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SUMMARY:From rebel movement to political party: UNITA's social engagement 
 in post-war Angola  - Dr Justin Pearce\, University of Cambridge:
DTSTART:20170123T170000Z
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UID:TALK69777@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Victoria Jones
DESCRIPTION:Angola’s principal opposition party\, the National Union for
  the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) originated in 1966 as a breakawa
 y anticolonial movement. From 1975 until 2002 UNITA waged an armed struggl
 e against the ruling MPLA. After the failed electoral process of 1992\, UN
 ITA had representation in parliament even as it continued to do battle wit
 h the government. Since its military defeat and disarmament in 2002\, UNIT
 A’s official role has been purely that of a parliamentary party. Through
  these changes of role\, it has maintained a continuous organisational ide
 ntity. The paper is based on interviews with UNITA members and the observa
 tion of UNITA practices\, particularly the delivery of social services to 
 its members and to wider society\, since the end of the war. To understand
  UNITA only as a political party and to judge its effectiveness simply in 
 terms of vote share is to ignore how its practices and its internal discou
 rses are the product both of its distinct history as an anti-colonial move
 ment and later as a rebel movement\, and of the limits imposed on politica
 l participation in Angola by a party system that has its roots in the same
  history of anti-colonial and civil war. While most studies of African pol
 itics have concentrated on states\, ruling parties\, and party systems to 
 the exclusion of opposition parties\, the paper argues for the close study
  of opposition parties’ engagement with society and how they construct i
 nternal solidarity.
LOCATION:Seminar Room S1 Alison Richard Building\, 7 West Road\, Cambridge
  CB3 9DT
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