Suchergebnisse

Following the Angolan ruling party's crushing defeat of the opposition in the first postwar elections, held in September 2008, the Movement for the Total Liberation of Angola (MPLA) has proceeded to consolidate in the last year its hegemonic rule in the country, effectively giving rise to another African hybrid regime. The regime's security and financial apparatus and national institutions have since been further molded to serve the Presidency and the military and business elites. Having acquired its democratic credentials and secure of the strength of its relevance in the international petroleum arena, Luanda has transformed a once failed state into a reformed autocracy.

This title traces three decades of securitisation in Angola. As a governing strategy during war and peacetime, it muted the aspirations of those on opposing sides, distorted the state, emboldened elites and redefined the identity of Angolans. Through this lens, Paula Cristina Roque provides an original account of Angola's post-conflict state-building. Securitisation protected the interests of President dos Santos, the ruling MPLA party and the elites supporting the regime. Angola's array of security forces and infrastructure provided an alternative to a fully functioning executive, at national, provincial and local levels. The intrusive way in which any form of dissent or activism was crushed allowed the presidency to control the direction and narrative of the post-war years.