Estado e poder em Angola: a trajetória do Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola (MPLA) e a construção do Estado Angolano (1956-1992)

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze the transformation of the Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola (MPLA) into a political party and its contribution in the building of the Angolan state. Besides having an expressive regional importance in Southern Africa and in the African continent as a whole, Angola presents certain peculiarities regarding the historical formation of its institutions, which were created in a context of rebuilding of the country after the independence war and then managed in a scenery of civil war, also being submitted to MPLA‘s administration. The latter was considered, until 1992, the only national party, remaining in that position until today. The study, which is based on historical aspects, begins with a discussion on the formation of the MPLA as a nationalist movement. Furthermore, it explains the context of the Cold War, which propitiated the necessary moment for MPLA to ascend to power. Finally, the work discusses the transformation of the MPLA into a political party in a scenery of internationalized civil war. The conclusion is that the transformation of the MPLA into a political party had several consequences to the building of the Angolan state: the support during the organization of the state, its functions and its public structures; the establishment of privileged external relations with countries that belonged to the socialist bloc; the influence on the continuity of the civil war until 1992 – period in which there was the first real attempt to end the conflict; and the structuring of the Angolan state in its own way, since the one-party system existed until 1992.