A Successful Failed State after All? The Case of Angola
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12797/Politeja.15.2018.56.05Keywords:
Angola, economy, failed state, oilAbstract
Among African countries Angola stands out as a particularly interesting case where robust economic growth has occurred despite the country having a relatively long list of characteristics of a failed state. This has prompted some scholars to call it “a successful failed state” or “weak but strong”. In 2002 Angola emerged from the devastating 25-year long civil war and since then has recorded a burgeoning growth, which only recently came to a halt due to the oil prices collapse. At the same time, Angola is famous for its corruption, lack of transparency and state capture by local elites. This article seeks to provide a critical discussion about the Angolan state, with a special reference to its capacity to provide public goods and finance them. It probes the notion that Angola can be labelled a successful failed state and argues that a perception of the relative success holds only in the time of favourable external conditions and only when major structural and institutional shortcomings of the Angolan economy are ignored.
Downloads
References
Acemoglu D., “Politics and economics in weak and strong states”, Journal of Monetary Economics, vol. 52, no. 7 (2005). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmoneco.2005.05.001
Acemoglu D., and Robinson J.A., “The Emergence of Weak, Despotic and Inclusive States”, NBER Working Paper, no. 23657, August 2017.
Allen C., “Warfare, Endemic violence and State collapse in Africa”, Review of African Political Economy, vol. 26, no. 81 (1999), https://doi.org/10.1080/03056249908704399>.
Alves A.C., “The Oil Factor in Sino–Angolan Relations at the Start of the 21st Century”, SAIIA Occasional Paper, no. 55 (2010).
Amundsen I., “Drowning in Oil: Angola’s Institutions and the “Resource Curse””, Comparative Politics, vol. 46, no. 2 (2014), at <https://doi.org/10.5129/001041514809387333>, pp. 169-189.
Anderson E.J., “Will Tax Reform Drive Equitable Development in Oil-Dependent Angola?”, SAIIA Policy Briefing 70 (2013).
“Angola faces health crisis as oil price drop leads to cutbacks”, Reuters, at <https://af.reuters.com/article/africaTech/idAFKCN0VK1AP> 11 February 2016.
“Angola: Low oil prices undo Angola”, All Africa, at <https://allafrica.com/stories/201603091018.html> 8 March 2016.
“Angola: Selected Issues, Country Report”, International Monetary Fund, no. 157 (18), Washington DC 2018. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9781484360255.002
“Angola’s debt service exceeds tax revenue in 2018”, Macauhub, at <https://macauhub.com.mo/2018/06/04/pt-servico-da-divida-de-angola-excede-receita-fiscal-em-2018/> 4 June 2018.
“Angola’s new president, João Lourenço, has made an encouraging start”. The Economist, 5 May 2018.
Baum A., Gupta S., Kimani E., Tapsoba S.J., “Corruption, taxes and compliance”, IMF Working Paper, no. 255 (2017), Washington DC 2017. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9781484326039.001
Brautigam D., Fjeldstad O.H., and Moore M. (eds.), Taxation and State-Building in Developing Countries: Capacity and Consent, Cambridge 2008, at <https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511490897>.
Brooks R.E., “Failed States, or the State as Failure?”, The University of Chicago Law Review, vol. 72, no. 4 (2005).
Call C.T., “The Fallacy of the ‘Failed State’”, Third World Quarterly, vol. 29, no. 8 (2008), at <https://doi.org/10.1080/01436590802544207>.
Campos I.Vines A., “Angola and China: A Pragmatic Partnership”, Working Paper Presented at a CSIS Conference, “Prospects for Improving U.S.f–China–Africa Cooperation”, 5 December 2007.
Canuto O., “The Commodity Super Cycle: Is This Time Different?”, PREM, no. 150, Washington DC 2014.
Clapham C., “Rethinking African States”, African Security Review, vol. 10, no. 3 (2001), at <https://doi.org/10.1080/10246029.2001.9628110>.
Corkin L., “Uneasy allies: China’s evolving relations with Angola”, Journal of Contemporary African Studies, vol. 29, no. 2 (2011), at <https://doi.org/10.1080/02589001.2011.555192>.
Corkin L., Uncovering African Agency: Angola’s Management of China’s Credit Lines, London 2013.
Corkin L., “After the Boom: Angola’s Recurring Oil Challenges in a New Context”, The Oxford Institute for Energy Studies Paper, no. 72 (2017). DOI: https://doi.org/10.26889/9781784670849
Cramer C., “War and peace in Angola and Mozambique”, Journal of Southern African Studies, vol. 22, no. 3 (1996). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03057079608708507
Croese S., “State-led housing delivery as an instrument of developmental patrimonialism: The case of post-war Angola”, African Affairs, vol. 116, no. 462 (2017), at <https://doi.org/10.1093/afraf/adw070>.
Di John, J., “Failed States’ in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Review of the Literature”, Real Instituto Elcano (ARI), ARI 5/2011.
Humphreys M., Sachs J.D., Stiglitz J.E. (eds.), Escaping the Resource Curse, New York 2007.
Fenochietto R., Pessino C., “Understanding Countries’ Tax Effort”, IMF Working Paper, no. 244 (2013), Washington DC 2013. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9781484301272.001
Frynas J.G., Wood G., “Oil & War in Angola”, Review of African Political Economy, vol. 28, no. 90 (2001), at <https://doi.org/10.1080/03056240108704568>.
Guimaraes F.A., The Origins of the Angolan Civil War: Foreign Intervention and Domestic Political Conflict, Basingstoke 1996.
Hackenesch C., The EU and China in African Authoritarian, Regimes, Governance and Limited Statehood, London 2018. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63591-0
Hammond J.L., “The Resource Curse and Oil Revenues in Angola and Venezuela”, Science and Society, vol. 75, no. 3 (2011). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1521/siso.2011.75.3.348
Helman G.B., Ratner S.R., “Saving failed states”, Foreign Policy, vol. 89 (1993). DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1149070
Herbst J., States and Power in Africa, Comparative Lessons in Authority and Control, Princeton 2014. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400852321
Hodges T., Angola. From Afro-Stalinism to Petro-Capitalism, Bloomington 2001.
Hodges T., Angola: Anatomy of an oil state, Lysaker 2004.
Karl T.L., “Ensuring Fairness: The Case for a Transparent Fiscal Social Contract”, in M. Humphreys, J.D. Sachs, J.E. Stiglitz (eds.), Escaping the Resource Curse, Columbia University Press, New York 2007.
Kłosowicz R., Mormul J., „Pojęcie dysfunkcyjności państw – geneza i definicje”, in R. Kłosowicz (ed.), Państwa dysfunkcyjne i ich destabilizujący wpływ na stosunki międzynarodowe.
Kłosowicz R. (ed.), Państwa dysfunkcyjne i ich destabilizujący wpływ na stosunki międzynarodowe, Kraków 2013.
Le Billon P., Wars of Plunder. Conflicts, Profits and the Politics of Resources, London 2012.
Malaquias A., “Making War and Lots of Money: The Political Economy of Protracted Conflict in Angola”. Review of African Political Economy, vol. 28, no. 90 (2001), at <https://doi.org/10.1080/03056240108704563>.
Malaquias A., Rebels and Robbers. Violence in Post-colonial Angola, Uppsala 2007.
Marques de Morais R., “The Angolan presidency: The epicentre of corruption”, Pambazuka News, 5 August 2010.
Marques de Morais R., “Corruption in Angola: An impediment to democracy”, Maka Angola, 12 May 2011.
Marques de Morais, R., “Time to say good bye”, Maka Angola, 9 February 2017.
Messiant C., “Angola: the Challenge of Statehood”, in D. Birmingham, P.M. Martin (eds.) History of Central Africa: the Contemporary Years since 1960, London–New York 1998.
Messiant C., “The Eduardo dos Santos Foundation: Or, how Angola’s Regime is Taking Over Civil Society”, African Affairs, vol. 100, no. 399 (2001).
Messiant C., “The Mutation of Hegemonic Domination”, in P. Chabal, N. Vidal (eds.), Angola: the Weight of History, New York 2007.
Migdal J.S., Strong Societies and Weak States State-Society Relations and State Capabilities in the Third World, Princeton 1988. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9780691212852
Moore M., “Revenues, State Formation, and the Quality of Governance in Developing Countries”. International Political Science Review, vol. 25, no. 3 (2004), at <https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0192512104043018>.Niño H.P., Le Billon P., “Foreign aid, resource rents and institution-building in Mozambique and Angola”, WIDER Working Paper, no. 102 (2013).
“New Luanda Airport starts operating in 24 months’ time”, ANGOP. Agencia Angola Press, 29 October 2017.
Power M., Alves A.C. (eds.), China and Angola: A Marriage of Convenience?. London 2012.
Prunier G., Gisselquist R.M., “Sudan: A Successfully Failed State”, in R.I. Rotberg (ed.), State failure and state weakness in a time of terror, Washington DC 2003.
Reno W., “The Real (War) Economy”, in C. Cilliers, J. Dietrich (eds.), Angola’s War Economy: the Role of Oil and Diamonds, Pretoria 2000.
Rice S.E., Stewart P., Index of State Weakness in the Developing World, Washington DC 2008.
Ross M.L., “The Political Economy of the Resource Curse”, World Politics, vol. 51, no. 2 (1999). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0043887100008200
Ross M.L., “Does Oil Hinder Democracy?”, World Politics, vol. 53, no. 3 (2001). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/wp.2001.0011
Ross M.L., “Does Taxation Lead to Representation?”, British Journal of Political Science, vol. 34, no. 2 (2004). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007123404000031
Rotberg R.I., “Failed States, Collapsed States, Weak States: Causes and Indicators”, in R.I. Rotberg (ed.), State failure and state weakness in a time of terror, Washington DC 2003.
“Safety fears for a Chinese built hospital in Angola”, BBC World Service, 7 July 2010.
Schubert J., Working the System. A Political Ethnography of the New Angola, Ithaca–London 2017. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7591/9781501709692
Shaxson N., Poisoned Wells: The Dirty Politics of African Oil, London 2007.
Soares de Oliveira R., Oil and Politics in the Gulf of Guinea, New York 2007.
Soares de Oliveira R., “Business success, Angola-style: postcolonial politics and the rise of Sonangol”.
Journal of Modern African Studies, vol. 45, no. 4 (2007), at <https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022278X07002893>.
Soares de Oliveira R., “Illiberal peacebuilding in Angola”, The Journal of Modern African Studies, vol. 49, no. 02 (2011), at <https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022278X1100005X>.
Soares de Oliveira R., Magnificent and Beggar Land, Angola Since the Civil War, Oxford 2015.
Soares De Oliveira R. “Angola’s Perfect Storm”, Foreign Affairs, 28 October 2015.
Sogge D., “Angola ‘Failed’ yet ‘Successful’”, FRIDE Working Paper, no. 70 (2007).
Solli A. Leysens A., “(Re)Conceptualizing the Political Economy of the African State Form: The Strong/Weak State Contradiction in Angola”, Politikon, vol. 38, no. 2 (2011), at <https://doi.org/10.1080/02589346.2011.580129>.
Specter M., “Extreme City, The severe inequality of the Angolan oil boom”, The New Yorker, 1 June 2015.
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Fact Sheet, May 2018.
Stürmer M., “Let the Good Times Roll? Raising Tax Revenues from the Extractive Sector in
Sub-Saharan Africa During the Commodity Price Boom”, German Development Institute Discussion Paper, no. 7 (2010).
The Africa Report, “Oil and Luanda’s best-laid plans”, 4 May 2015.
UNDP, Export Dependence and Export Concentration. Towards Human Resilience: Sustaining
MDG Progress in an Age of Economic Uncertainty, UNDP Bureau for Development Policy, New York 2011.
UNECA, Angola: country profile 2016, Economic Commission for Africa, Addis Ababa 2017.
Vines A., Weimer M., “Angola: Thirty Years of Dos Santos”, Review of African Political Economy, vol. 36, no. 120 (2009).
Vines A., “Angolan agency and Chinese and US oil politics, 1975-2014”, In: D. Zweig, Y. Hao (eds.), Sino-US Energy Triangles: Resource diplomacy under hegemony, London 2015.
Women and Men in the Informal Economy: a Statistical Picture, International Labour Organisation, Geneva 2018.
“Work on Lobito refinery halted”, The Economist Intelligence Unit, 24 August 2016.
World Bank, “Angola Learning for All” Project Information Document, Appraisal Stage”, World Bank, Washington DC 2012.
World Bank, Country Partnership Strategy (FY14-FY16) for the Republic of Angola. Report No. 76225-AO. World Bank, Washington DC 2013.
World Bank, Macro Poverty Outlook, April 2018.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2022 Dominik Kopiński
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
