Short Abstract

This panel examines how historical inequalities, insurgency, electoral violence and post-conflict justice shape political authority in Mozambique. It connects state, civil-society and community perspectives on violence, accountability, peacebuilding and legitimacy.

Long Abstract

Mozambique offers a revealing prism through which to examine how violence, political order, legitimacy and social division are produced, interpreted and contested over time. From the historical formation of regional and ethnic inequalities in the north to the jihadist insurgency in Cabo Delgado, and from elite peace settlements to the contested 2024 elections and their violent aftermath, Mozambican politics cannot be understood through separate categories of conflict, development, democracy or peacebuilding. These processes are interconnected through historically embedded relations of authority, exclusion, representation and political control.

This panel brings together research on four linked dimensions of Mozambique’s contemporary political landscape: social and ethnic divisions in the north; governmental, humanitarian and development-sector responses to insurgency; citizen-led documentation of electoral violence; and the evolving relationship between amnesty, accountability and political legitimacy in post-conflict and post-electoral contexts. The papers examine the actors and institutions managing violence, as well as the frames through which violence becomes legible, its causes are defined, and interventions become politically possible.

In line with ECAS 2027’s theme, “African Prisms,” the panel brings historical, political, institutional, ethnographic and civil-society-centred perspectives into dialogue with debates on conflict resolution, democratic backsliding, state legitimacy, development intervention and transitional justice. It asks how conflict and insecurity are narrated; how historical inequalities shape vulnerability; and when peacebuilding and justice promote inclusion or consolidate incumbent power. By connecting insurgency, electoral contestation and post-conflict governance, the panel challenges linear distinctions between war and peace, security and development, and accountability and impunity.

This Panel has 2 pending paper proposals.
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