Ref.: SFRH/BD/60744/2009

Funding institution(s): FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia

Keywords: China, Angola, Relações Internacionais, empresas, África

Abstract

The subject of the thesis is the analysis of the role of China, as a financier of post-conflict reconstruction in Angola. Angola had through wartime period managed a tempestuous relationship with the Bretton Woods institutions, since 1989, when it became a full member of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. However the Angolan government nurtured an expectation that post-war reconstruction in Angola would be supported by a donor conference, assuming that external powers should redeem for their participation in the Angolan Civil War. Furthermore a donor conference held in Brussels in 1995 by European Union initiative was perceived as a sign that at least European countries were predisposed to gather such a conference. However Angolan expectations did not meet with external approval in 2002. Angolan perceived levels of (bad)-governance as well as the reorientation of geopolitical priorities for both the European Union and the United States, materialized in a continuous postponing of the Angolan donor conference. This work aims to better understand how the financial agreements of the Angolan government with China paved the way for a post conflict reconstruction with no political reforms, along the continuous grip on power by the MPLA (Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola). Furthermore, it aims also to understand the private entrepreneurial dynamics created on the side of immigrant Chinese entrepreneurs in Angola. Starting from an analysis at the state level (international system) understanding the actors, political goals and objectives guiding Angolan and Chinese political leaders, the analysis goes down to Angolan internal bureaucracies and dynamics to understand in what extent the bilateral deals are or are not totally interlinked with private Chinese investment in Angola.

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