Reform or unravel? Prospects for Angola’s transition

As President Dos Santos steps down, can Angola’s next leader turn the country around?

Angola is facing an existential transition. A presidential succession is occurring ahead of the August 2017 elections amid a deep financial crisis, internal factionalism within the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola and strong opposition demands. Reform is necessary to dismantle the pillars of the current governing strategy that have become unstable and have weakened the security apparatus, have politicised the economy and oil industry, have weakened the ruling party and have increased the levels of repression. This report focuses on the emerging faultlines Angola is facing as the Dos Santos era comes to an end.

About the author

Paula Cristina Roque is finalising her PhD on wartime guerrilla governance at Oxford University. She is also a founding member of the South Sudan Centre for Strategic and policy Studies in Juba. She was previously the senior analyst for Southern Africa with the International Crisis Group, and from 2008–2010 she was the Horn of Africa senior researcher for the ISS in Pretoria. She can be reached at: [email protected].

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