Portuguese Colonial Legacy in Luso-African States – a Factor Leading to State Dysfunctionality or Favorable to Development?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12797/Politeja.15.2018.56.04Keywords:
Luso-Africa, Portuguese colonialism, state dysfunctionality, colonial legacyAbstract
Among historical factors leading to state dysfunctionality phenomenon on the African continent, colonial legacy is most often indicated. It is a common perception that colonialism understood not only as colonial rule but also as colonial legacy is the main responsible for today’s African crises of statehood. The study focuses on Luso-African continental states (Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau) that have quite a similar historical experience, not only the difficult and long war for independence, but also lack of political stability in the postcolonial period (civil wars, coups d’état, experiments with socialism and one-party system). The article is an attempt to reflect on the hypothesis that the Portuguese colonial legacy can be perceived as a historical factor leading to state dysfunctionality, however its evaluation should be more complex, as from today’s perspective it could bring some benefits that derive most of all from the common official language, similar historical experience and some sense of the Luso-African or Lusophone identity. The paper is based on the qualitative analysis of the already existing data, critical reading of the literature of the subject, as well as qualitative data gathered during author’s study visits to Portugal, Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau.
Downloads
PlumX Metrics of this article
References
Afrobarometer, “R6 2014/2015 (Mozambique)”, at <http://afrobarometer.org/online-dataanalysis/analyse-online>, 19 September 2018.
Google Scholar
Afrobarometer, “R6 2014/2015 (Mozambique, Cape Verde, Sao Tome and Principe)”, at <http://afrobarometer.org/online-data-analysis/analyse-online>, 19 September 2018.
Google Scholar
Allina E., Slavery By Any Other Name: African Life under Company Rule in Colonial Mozambique, Charlottesville/London 2012.
Google Scholar
Austin G., “African Economic Development and Colonial Legacies”, International Development
Google Scholar
Policy / Revue internationale de politique de développement, no. 1 (2010), at <https://journals.openedition.org/poldev/78?lang=es>, 25 September 2018.
Google Scholar
Blanton R., Mason T.D., Athow B., „Colonial Style and Post-Colonial Ethnic Conflict in Africa”, Journal of Peace Research, vol. 38, no. 4 (2001).
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0022343301038004005
Google Scholar
Bondoso A.A., Lusofonia e CPLP: Desafios na Globalização, Viseu 2013.
Google Scholar
Cabecinhas R., Feijó J., “Collective Memories of Portuguese Colonial Action in Africa: Representations of the Colonial Past among Mozambicans and Portuguese Youths”, International Journal of Conflict and Violence, vol. 4, no 1 (2010).
Google Scholar
Campbell H., “The Military Defeat of the South Africans in Angola”. Monthly Review.
Google Scholar
An Independent Socialist Magazine, vol. 64, no. 11 (2013), at <http://monthlyreview.org/2013/04/01/the-military-defeat-of-the-south-africans-in-angola/>, 2 September 2015.
Google Scholar
Chabal P, “Angola and Mozambique: The Weight of History”, Portuguese Studies, vol. 17 (2001).
Google Scholar
Chabal P., „National Liberation in Portuguese Guinea, 1956-1974”, African Affairs vol. 80, no. 318 (1981).
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.afraf.a097302
Google Scholar
Charchalis W., “Lusotropicalismo e lusofonia – dois projetos coloniais portugueses”, in W. Charchalis, B. Trocha (eds.), Mitologizacja kultury w polskiej i iberyjskiej twórczości artystycznej, Zielona Góra 2015.
Google Scholar
Charchalis W., “Luzotropikalizm – dwa przypadki transatlantyckiej wymiany tej samej idei”, in J. Łapott, E. Prądzyńska (eds.), Ex Africa semper aliquid novi, vol. 1, Żory 2014.
Google Scholar
Chimbutane F., Rethinking Bilingual Education in Postcolonial Contexts, Bristol–Buffalo–Toronto 2011.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21832/9781847693655
Google Scholar
Collier P., Gunning J.W., “Why Has Africa Grown Slowly?”, Journal of Economic Perspectives, vol. 13, no. 3 (1999).
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.13.3.3
Google Scholar
“Constituição da República de Moçambique, Presidência da República de Moçambique”, at <http://www.presidencia.gov.mz/files/republica/constituicao_republica_moc.pdf>, 1 March 2017.
Google Scholar
Denhez C.I., “Independence or Autonomy: The Right to Self-Determination in the Enclave of Cabinda”, Carleton Review of International Affairs, vol. 1 (2009).
Google Scholar
Desminar o novo Caminho-de-Ferro de Benguela custou mais de 4,5 milhões de euros, Agência Lusa, „Observador”, 13 February 2015, at <http://observador.pt/2015/02/13/desminar-onovo-caminho-de-ferro-de-benguela-custou-mais-de-45-milhoes-de-euros/>, 23 July 2015.
Google Scholar
Dobrzycki W., Historia stosunków międzynarodowych 1815-1945, Warszawa 2010.
Google Scholar
Domingues P., “The Health Consequences of the Mozambique Civil War: an Anthropometric Approach”, Documents de Travail du Center d’Economie de la Sorbonne, CES Working Papers, October 2010, at <ftp://mucri.univ-paris1.fr/pub/mse/CES2010/10010.pdf>, 1 October 2018.
Google Scholar
Dowden R., Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles, London 2009.
Google Scholar
Duara P., “Between Empire and Nation: Settler Colonialism in Manchukuo”, in C. Elkins, S. Pedersen (eds.), Settler Colonialism in the Twentieth Century, Abingdon–New York 2005.
Google Scholar
Dyrvig Hellesøe E., Hejslet Larsen K., Cacoline K., Vigne H.T., Rasmussen Harsbo R., Gregersen V., Linguistic identity in Postcolonial Mozambique – with a focus on education, Autumn 2014, at <https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/43029554.pdf>, 16 June 2018.
Google Scholar
“Fragile States Index – Country Dashboard”, Fund for Peace, at <http://fundforpeace.org/fsi/country-data/>, 15 September 2018.
Google Scholar
“Fragile States Index 2018”, The Fund for Peace, at <http://fundforpeace.org/fsi/data/>, 1 September 2018.
Google Scholar
Freyre G., Casa-grande e senzala, São Paulo 2003.
Google Scholar
Freyre G., Sobrados e mucambos, São Paulo 2013.
Google Scholar
Funada-Classen S., The Origins of War in Mozambique. A History of Unity and Division, Somerset West 2013.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.47622/978-1-920489-97-7
Google Scholar
Gallagher T., Portugal: A Twentieth-Century Interpretation, Manchester 1983.
Google Scholar
Gawrycki M.F., Kurowska J., “Internacjonalistyczne” misje Hawany”, in M.F. Gawrycki, W. Lizak (eds.), Kuba i Afryka. Sojusz dla rewolucji, Warszawa 2006.
Google Scholar
Gawrycki M.F., Szeptycki A., Podporządkowanie – niedorozwój – wyobcowanie. Postkolonializm a stosunki międzynarodowe, Warszawa 2011.
Google Scholar
Hammond R.J., Portugal and Africa 1815-1910: A Study in Uneconomic Imperialism, Stanford, CA 1966.
Google Scholar
Igreja V., “The Monkeys’ Sworn Oath. Cultures of Engagement for Reconciliation and Healing in the Aftermath of the Civil War in Mozambique”, PhD Thesis, Universiteit Leiden, 2007, at <https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/12089/ front.pdf?sequence=6>, 30 June 2012.
Google Scholar
James W.M., Historical dictionary of Angola, Lanham, MD 2011.
Google Scholar
Jankowski D., “Konflikt w Angoli. Historia, geopolityka, wyzwania na przyszłość”, Biuletyn
Google Scholar
Opinie, no. 37 (2009), at <http://fae.pl/biuletynopiniekonfliktwangolihistoriaterazniejszoscprzyszlosc.pdf>, 2 January 2012;
Google Scholar
Kaldor M., New & Old Wars. Organized Violence in a Global Era, Cambridge 2009.
Google Scholar
Kapuściński R., Another Day of Life ( Jeden dzień życia), transl. by W.R. Brand, K. Mroczkowska-Brand. London 1987.
Google Scholar
Kłosowicz R., „Państwa dysfunkcyjne w Afryce Subsaharyjskiej”, in R. Kłosowicz (ed.), Państwa dysfunkcyjne i międzynarodowe wysiłki zmierzające do ich naprawy, Kraków 2014.
Google Scholar
Kłosowicz R., Konteksty dysfunkcyjności państw Afryki Subsaharyjskiej, Kraków 2017.
Google Scholar
Koning T., “Milestones in Angola’s Oil History”, GEOExPro, vol. 9, no. 3 (2012), at <https://www.geoexpro.com/articles/2012/10/milestones-in-angola-s-oil-history>, 22 June 2018.
Google Scholar
Kopiński D., „O wpływie wieloetniczności na rozwój gospodarczy w Afryce Subsaharyjskiej”, Afryka. Biuletyn Polskiego Towarzystwa Afrykanistycznego, no. 27 (2008).
Google Scholar
Kosidło A., „Kolonializm w Afryce – próba bilansu”, Olsztyńskie Studia Afrykanistyczne, vol. 2 (2011).
Google Scholar
Kraft S., “Legacy of Spite: Ex-Colonies Give Portugal the Blame”. Los Angeles Times, 23 May 1989, at <http://articles.latimes.com/1989-05-23/news/mn-682_1_portuguese-south-africa-angola-and-mozambique>, 5 September 2016.
Google Scholar
Lamb D., “Only the skyline remains. Angolan prosperity fades”, The Stanford Daily, vol. 177, no. 61 (1980), [reprinted from the Los Angeles Times], at <http://stanforddailyarchive.com/cgi-bin/stanford?a=d&d=stanford19800520-01.2.9&e=-------en-20--1–txt-txIN-------#>, 5 September 2015.
Google Scholar
Lizak W., Afrykańskie instytucje bezpieczeństwa, Warszawa 2012.
Google Scholar
Lopes A.J., “The Language Situation in Mozambique”, in R.B. Kaplan, R.B. Baldauf. Clevedon et alt. (eds.), Language Planning in Malawi, Mozambique, and the Philippines, Clevedon–Philadelphia–Toronto–Sydney 1999.
Google Scholar
Lovejoy P.E., Transformations in Slavery: A History of Slavery in Africa, Cambridge 2012.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139014946
Google Scholar
Mabeko-Tali J.M., “Entre économie rentière et violence politico-militaire. La question cabindaise et le processus de paix angolaise, Politique africaine, no. 110 (2008).
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3917/polaf.110.0065
Google Scholar
Malaquias A., Rebels and Robbers. Violence in Post-Colonial Angola, Uppsala 2007.
Google Scholar
Marcum J.A., “UNITA: The Politics of Survival”, in H. Kitchen (ed.), Angola, Mozambique and the West, New York 1987.
Google Scholar
Mark P. “Portuguese” Style and Luso-African Identity: Precolonial Senegambia, Sixteenth-nineteenth Centuries, Bloomington–Indianapolis 2002.
Google Scholar
Mendy P.K., “Portugal’s Civilizing Mission in Colonial Guinea-Bissau: Rhetoric and Reality”, International Journal of African Historical Studies, vol. 36, no. 1 (2003).
Google Scholar
Meneses M.P.G., “O ‘indígena’ africano e o colono ‘europeu’: a construção da diferença por processos legais”, e-cadernos CES, no. 7 (2010): Identidades, cidadanias e Estado, at <https://www.ces.uc.pt/myces/UserFiles/livros/693_04%2520-%2520Paula%2520Meneses%252023_06.pdf>, 18 October 2018.
Google Scholar
Meredith M., Historia współczesnej Afryki. Pół wieku niepodległości (The State of Africa: A History of Fifty Years of Independence), transl. by S. Piłaszewicz, Warszawa 2011.
Google Scholar
Mills G., “From confusão to estamos juntos? Bigness, development and state dysfunction in Angola”, in C. Clapham, J. Herbst, G. Mills (eds.), Big African States, Johannesburg 2009.
Google Scholar
Minter W., Portuguese Africa and the West, London–New York 1973.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5771/0506-7286-1973-3-354_1
Google Scholar
Morgan G., “Violence in Mozambique: Towards an Understanding of RENAMO”, Journal of Modern African Studies, vol. 28, no. 4 (1990).
Google Scholar
Mormul J., „Historyczno-polityczne uwarunkowania kryzysów państwowości w Gwinei Bissau”, Afryka, no. 46 (2017).
Google Scholar
Moss T.J., African Development. Making Sense of the Issues and Actors, Boulder, CO/London 2011.
Google Scholar
Newitt M., A History of Mozambique, London 2009.
Google Scholar
Newson L.A., Minchin S., From Capture to Sale: The Portuguese Slave Trade to Spanish South America in the Early Seventeenth Century, Leiden–Boston 2007.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004156791.i-373
Google Scholar
Oliver R., Atmore A., Dzieje Afryki po 1800 roku (Africa since 1800), transl. by K. Salawa, Warszawa 2007.
Google Scholar
Patel S., Chambo G., Tembe F.F., Bilingual Education in Mozambique: Nowadays Situation. Eduardo Mondlane University, Maputo – Mozambique 2008, at <http://www.up.ac.za/media/shared/Legacy/sitefiles/file/46/10824/mozambiquepresentation.pdf>, 25 September 2016.
Google Scholar
Paterson K.D., “Epidemics, Famines, and Population in the Cape Verde Islands, 1580-1900”, International Journal of African Historical Studies, vol. 21, no. 2 (1988).
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/219938
Google Scholar
Penvenne J.M., “Settling against the Tide: The Layered Contradictions of the Twentieth-Century Portuguese Settlement in Mozambique”, in C. Elkins, S. Pedersen (eds.), Settler Colonialism in the Twentieth Century, Abingdon–New York 2005.
Google Scholar
Portuguese Guinea: the PAIGC after Cabral, United States of America Department of State, 1.02.1973, Declassified PA/HO Department of State E.O. 12958, as amended 4 May 2006, at <http://2001-2009.state.gov/documents/organization/67534.pdf>, 17 July 2015.
Google Scholar
Posner D.N., “Measuring Ethnic Fractionalization in Africa”, American Journal of Political Science, vol. 48, no. 4 (2004).
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1519937
Google Scholar
Rzewuski E., „Disce puer/puella linguam bantam… Reforma językowej polityki oświatowej w Mozambiku”, in E. Rzewuski (ed.), Języki, kultury i społeczeństwa Afryki w procesie przemian. Referaty sesji naukowej zorganizowanej w dniu 4 grudnia 2009 r. z okazji 40-lecia afrykanistyki w strukturach Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego, Warszawa 2010.
Google Scholar
Seibert G., “Mozambique, vagaries of violence and power in post-colonial”, in J. Abbink, M. De Bruijn, K. Van Walraven (eds.), Rethinking Resistance: Revolt and Violence in African History, Leiden 2003.
Google Scholar
Vines A., “Renamo’s Rise and Decline: The Politics of Reintegration in Mozambique”, International Peacekeeping, vol. 20, no. 3 (2013).
Google Scholar
Wheeler D., Pélissier R., História de Angola (Angola), transl. by P.G.S. Pereira, P. Almeida, Lisboa 2011.
Google Scholar
Williams G., “Nationalisms, Nations and States: Concluding Reflections”, in E. Morier-Genoud (ed.), Sure Road? Nationalisms in Angola, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique, Leiden 2012.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004226012_012
Google Scholar
Williams P.D., War and Conflict in Africa, Cambridge–Malden, MA 2011.
Google Scholar
Wilson K.B., “Cults of violence and counter-violence in Mozambique”, Journal of Southern African Studies, vol. 18, no. 3 (1992).
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03057079208708326
Google Scholar
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2021 Joanna Mormul
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Funding data
-
Narodowe Centrum Nauki
Grant numbers DEC-2013/11/N/HS5/04220
