Paper short abstract:

Based on doctoral research on governance in Angola, this article analyses the particular configurations of public authority that have emerged in rural Angola. These historically grown authority structures now form the base from where the state’s strategy to consolidate its power departs.

Paper long abstract:

This article uncovers the particular ways in which the Angolan state is re-establishing itself in rural areas where its sovereignty was often contested, by providing a case study of Caluquembe, which is situated on the southwestern edge of the Central High Plateau. UNITA occupied this town just before the 1992 elections, and remained in control until 1994 when government troops pushed out UNITA to the periphery. Caluquembe continuously remained in the frontline until the end of war in 2002.

Two interrelated questions guide this analysis: what particular configurations of public authority have emerged in Calquembe's post-war society, and where and how does the emergent local state carve out a position for itself? One argument put forward is that institution building and reform in the countryside are not technical or administrative problems but rather highly political processes. The African state is more deeply grounded in rural societies than the failed state accounts suggest.

Likewise, whereas the state has not yet achieved predominance in Caluquembe's political arena, it draws on the authority and legitimacy of a variety of actors who are operating there for carrying out state functions. These actors form part of historical and indigenous networks of authority that were reasserted in times of crisis. Not only is this a consequence of the poor penetration of state power in rural areas; the lack of criteria and conditions for the creation and development of state administrative units below the municipal state administrative level have facilitated the continuation of previous state structures.