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SUMMARY:From Rebel Movement to Political Party: UNITA's Social Engagement 
 in Post-War Angola - Justin Pearce\, University of Cambridge:
DTSTART:20170123T170000Z
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UID:TALK70465@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\, U
 NITA had representation in parliament even as it continued to do battle wi
 th the government. Since its military defeat and disarmament in 2002\, UNI
 TA ’s official role has been purely that of a parliamentary party. Throu
 gh these changes of role\, it has maintained a continuous organisational i
 dentity. The paper is based on interviews with UNITA members and the obser
 vation of UNITA practices\, particularly the delivery of social services t
 o its members and to wider society\, since the end of the war. To understa
 nd UNITA only as a political party and to judge its effectiveness simply i
 n terms of vote share is to ignore how its practices and its internal disc
 ourses are the product both of its distinct history as an anti-colonial mo
 vement and later as a rebel movement\, and of the limits imposed on politi
 cal participation in Angola by a party system that has its roots in the sa
 me history of anti-colonial and civil war. While most studies of African p
 olitics have concentrated on states\, ruling parties\, and party systems t
 o the exclusion of opposition parties\, the paper argues for the close stu
 dy of opposition parties’ engagement with society and how they construct
  internal solidarity.
LOCATION:Seminar Room S1 Alison Richard Building\, 7 West Road\, Cambridge
  CB3 9DT
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