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Paper short abstract:

This paper intends to apply a political economy approach to investigate the dynamics of premature deindustrialization in Mozambique. Specifically, the paper analyzes the characteristics, drivers and implications of the productive structure developed in the country since independence.

Paper long abstract:

The fact that many African economies once part of the 'Africa Rising' narrative are currently facing deep economic crisis reinforces the urgent need to re-assess the political economy factors leading to vulnerability to cyclical crisis of accumulation and dependency on external capital. Indeed, the recent rejuvenation of the debate on industrialization has highlighted the importance of analyzing the interplay between defining economic, political and institutional relations within the country under consideration and its integration with the world capitalist system. It is within this context that this paper intends to apply a political economy approach to investigate the dynamics of premature deindustrialization in Mozambique, a country that despite having been part of the 'Africa Rising' narrative, has its economy dependent on foreign capital (aid, foreign investment and debt), exporting a limited number of low value-added natural resource-based commodities, with limited backward and forward linkages with the rest of the economy and impact on employment generation and poverty reduction. Specifically, the paper starts by analyzing the characteristics and implications of the productive structure developed in the country since independence; it then discusses what explains the production patterns described by looking at the interactions between the role of the state, domestic power relations and global production structures.