The Path Toward Democracy in Angola


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Democratization in Africa


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"The country-specific chapters serve to underline the differences between African democracy and liberal democracy, yet some authors are at pains to emphasize that whatever their limitations, African democracies are an advance over what had gone before." -- African Studies Review




Governing in the Shadows


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This book 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. But the façade of democracy, development and stability hid a very different reality for the majority of Angolans, who remained poor, disenfranchised and marginalised. Roque explores the inner workings of the intelligence services, army and presidential guard, explaining the trajectory of a survivalist and fearful regime presiding over scarcities and injustices. She shows that the survival of national security and governing elites was the highest priority. The ‘shadows’ held far more power than institutions, and weakened them–widening the gap between government and governed.




The Route of Angola a Strategic Approach


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The present essay is the result of multiple investigations. However, it is important to clarify the reasons on the base of its conception. The transformations operated in Angola allowed the emergence of a political system of liberal democracy. Although that was the case, in practical terms, there are several trends. Some tend to integration, others to disintegration, and the others are in an intermediate position. After all, everything gravitates around the fight to capture and maintain power, with a certain exacerbation and lack of knowledge of certain peculiarities of the pluralist system, as well as a lack of mastery of other aspects. In parallel, there is a trend to ignore common history, life in society, national conquests, etc. There are also many misunderstandings concerning the handling of state life. Some arise from lack of political-strategic culture, others from eagerness to take power promptly, and others still from scarce clarity of some aspects of the functional model and lack of state vision. Likewise, the country sees statements that do not help internal life at all and contribute to increased vulnerabilities, thus forming a potential threat to national interests. All in all, peace, stability, well-being, common good, and security require ways of thinking and acting that are more in line with a contemporary way of life. Still, we face a whole set of demands arising from present challenges, which require adaptation and the imperious need to help solve regional and international problems. But meanwhile, for this to happen, one must catapult to other levels of organization and strive mainly for clarity in the global operation of the state.




From Power Sharing to Democracy


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This book examines the problems of prospects of achieving sustainable democracy through power sharing political institutions in societies that have been torn by ethnic conflict. It combines theoretical and comparative essays with a wide range of case studies.




The Internet and Democracy Building in Lusophone African Countries


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This timely book fills an important gap in the literature on the influence of the Internet and new media in Portuguese speaking African countries. Based on extensive field work throughout the region the author examines the influence of the Internet in the transition to democracy in Africa, and asks whether there are new possibilities for popular activism to emerge from evolving communication environments and media systems. The book analyses the different forms of democracy, the concept of development, and addresses the debate about the relationship between democracy and development and explores the influence of the media in the democratization process, the promises that digital media bring to this process and to development and the implications of the African digital divide. In certain countries in this region democracy and independent news media are in their infancy but are starting to take hold, giving an excellent opportunity to observe the dynamics of civil society and the influence of increased freedom, new voting powers and new media in particular. The book offers important insights into the roles and functions that the media in general, and the Internet in particular, can perform in the creation of a more democratic society, as well as in empowering and educating citizens in democratic values.




Great Power Competition and the Path to Democracy


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Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, newly formed transitional regimes took up the challenging task of democratization. Democracy promotion in some cases produced unintended consequences. A retrospective evaluation of the Georgian case shows that democracy emerged in Georgia partly as a result of competition between the West and Russia. This important book explores the conditions under which external pressures can lead to democracy and argues that competition between great powers incentivizes the emergence of policy compromises between local and external actors.










George Bush


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