The Angolan Revolution Exile Politics And Guerrilla Warfare 1962 1976

The first volume of this work, subtitled "The Anatomy of an Explosion, 1950-1962, " described the background and the first two years of the armed struggle for Angolan independence. It was published in 1969, and left its readers eagerly awaiting the sequel. Thus, a reviewer in the "Journal of Modern African Studies" wrote that ..".this volume was a joy to read. Its contribution to a fuller understanding of Portuguese Africa is immense, especially in light of the meager literature in English. MIT Press will publish a second volume, which will bring us beyond 1962, and I, for one, would not miss it for all the coffee in Angola." And another scholar, writing in the "American Historical Review, " concluded that "Professor Marcum's able study of the struggle for Angolan independence in 1962 is not likely to be easily replaced for quite some time to come. Everyone interested in this struggle will eagerly look forward to his second volume that brings the story through the sixties."The second volume narrates how Angola won her independence from Portugal in 1975, traces the course of the continuing conflict among revolutionary groups to its effectively final outcome, and ends as Angola gains worldwide recognition as a sovereign and (tenuously) unified nation.This new volume fully meets the expectations aroused by its predecessor, with its scrupulous linking of events and evidence. Moreover, since the historical incidents leading to the "denouement" are intrinsically more dramatic than those of the early years of the struggle, the second volume possesses a heightened narrative drive, enabling the reader to keep up with the quickening and sometimes confusing pace of events.Marcum thoroughly documents the rival revolutionary parties--based as much on ethnicity as on ideology--that fought the Portuguese and each other. (Two major movements were active in the field up to 1966, when a third party emerged as a full contender.) The origin, programs, leadership, and structure of these parties are examined in considerable detail, including the extent to which their guerrilla operations were controlled by exiled insurgents. The book explores the transterritorial relations among the parties and their interaction with external powers, both before the collapse of Portuguese rule and during the civil war that followed. In particular, Marcum traces the shifting patterns of political and material support provided to the various factions by contiguous African nations, the United States, China, the Soviet Union, Cuba, and others, especially during the final phase of the struggle. The reportorial and scholarly sources referenced here make the civil war understandable--and demonstrate the extent of its predictability, if not its inevitability.

This long-awaited book is a vivid history of Frelimo, the liberation movement that gained power in Mozambique following the sudden collapse of Portuguese rule in 1974. The leading scholar of the liberation struggle in Portuguese Africa, John Marcum completed this work shortly before his death, after a lifetime of research and close contact with many of the major Mozambican nationalists of the time. Assembled from his rich archive of unpublished letters, diaries, and transcribed conversations with figures such as Eduardo Mondlane, Adelino Gwambe, and Marcelino dos Santos, this book captures the key issues and personalities that shaped the era. With unique insight into the Mozambican struggle and the tragic short-sightedness of U.S. policy, Conceiving Mozambique encourages a dispassionate re-examination of the movement’s costs as well as its remarkable accomplishments.

When Portugal's colonial rule in Angola ended in 1974, three liberation groups-UNITA (National Union for the Total Independence of Angola), FNLA (National Front for the Liberation of Angola), and MPLA (Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola)-agreed to a tripartite movement for the fledgling nation. Conflicts quickly arose and the MPLA, with Cuban and Soviet assistance, drove its rivals from the capital, instigating a civil war, which continues into three periods (1975-1991, 1992-94, and 1998-2002). This volume covers the first period, focusing on the political history of the UNITA movement and its struggles with the MPLA. The Angolan civil war was the product of personal jealousies, contrasting ideologies, and ethnic animosities. From its inception, the conflict between UNITA and Angola's Marxist government was an international affair involving the U. S., the USSR, China, and many African states: W. Martin James III, who wrote his book near the close of the first period of civil war, contends that despite Gorbachev's "new thinking" and talk of peaceful solutions to regional conflicts, Soviet policy toward Angola marked a reversion to the Brezhnev Doctrine. The biggest MPLA-Cuban offenses occurred during Gorbachev's tenure with Soviet advisers at the brigade level directing an MPLA offensive. American policy toward Angola is also examined here. This is the first book to emphasize the dynamic role of UNITA in the Angolan liberation movement. James acknowledges that the importance of foreign powers in guaranteeing a government of national reconciliation. Just as important are strategies of compromise requiring trust in a political context where it is violated and submission for the common good where defiance is a remnant of the colonial past. Foreign policy analysts, African area specialists, and scholars of post-colonial history find this volume indispensible.

An investigation of the origins of the Angolan civil war of 1975-76. By looking at the interaction between internal and external factors, it reveals the domestic roots of the conflict and the impact of foreign intervention on the civil war. The formative influence of colonialism and anti-colonialism on the emergence of Angolan rivalry since 1961 is described, and the externalization of that power struggle is analysed from a perspective of both international and domestic politics.

"This book aims to provide a better understanding of the significance and dynamics of communication and transport routes in Angola and its hinterland."--Back cover.

By tracing U.S. involvement in South African political and economic development since the late 1800s, this book analyzes U.S. corporate and government motives for maintaining the political status quo in South Africa. In recent decades, according to the author, U.S. policy toward South Africa has grown more contradictory: Endeavoring to protect the United States's reputation on the question of race, government officials denounce apartheid, yet Washington remains the main force blocking an international response to South African policies. As the situation in South Africa continues to polarize, the U.S. is increasingly isolated in its position of verbally condemning yet materially supporting South Africa's white minority regime--a regime confronting the distinct possibility of civil war.

This book brings together new research on the subject of nations and nationalisms in Angola, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique. It explores the history and politics of diverse nationalist discourses and ideologies, and it revisits the formation and contemporary developments of national imagined communities in Portuguese-speaking Africa. It does so by drawing on several disciplines and by exploring themes as diverse as Frelimo’s liberation literature, UNITA’s moral economy and the disaggregation of Guinea-Bissau. The authors provide novel insights in the hope of contributing to the academic and public debate on the subject, not least in those countries where, in the face of liberalisation, ruling parties and their opponents have been arguing intensively over, and have sometime struggled to re-invent, a sense of national community. Through their engagement with the subject, authors also make a contribution to the general discussion of the concepts of nations and nationalism.