Angola: Parallel governments, oil and neopatrimonial system reproduction

The Angolan oil state: Two governments between democracy and hegemony (2008–2010)

Over the last 35 years, the central government in Luanda has not only survived a potent insurgency, external intervention, international isolation, sanctions and economic collapse, but it has also managed to emerge victorious from a highly destructive and divisive civil war, achieving double-digit economic growth less than a decade after the cessation of hostilities. Hence the state in Angola may be regarded as resilient and even effective. However, closer examination of the Angolan political order reveals a very distinct reality of two parallel ruling structures: the formal, fragile government ruled by the Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola (MPLA) and the more resilient ‘shadow’ government controlled and manipulated by the presidency, with Sonangol, the national oil company, as its chief economic motor. While these structures are mutually dependent, their internal functions are sometimes at odds with each other. Recent changes to these structures reveal the faultlines the ruling elite has tried to conceal, as well as new opportunities for engagement with the ruling structures of Angola by African and international policymakers.  

About the author:

Paula Cristina Roque is currently completing her PhD on “Guerilla Governance: Towards a new understanding of post-conflict transformational processes. The cases of SPLM (in Sudan) and UNITA (in Angola)” at the Department of International Development, University of Oxford.