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State–Diamond-Sector Relations in Angola, 1912–2002

2019; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 45; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/03057070.2019.1664187

1465-3893

Mathias Alencastro,

South African History and Culture

Existing studies on mining in Angola are mostly concerned with its social and military underpinnings and tend to analyse the diamond sector as empirically distinct from the state. In addition, little attention has been paid to how they are bound together and what these interconnections mean for the nature of politics in Angola. This gap in the literature is significant because diamond companies produce far more than revenue and profits: for some 100 years, the diamond sector has governed, policed, defended and controlled the strategic, diamond-rich provinces of Lunda Sul and Lunda Norte. In order to fill this lacuna, this article offers a case study on the role of the diamond industry for the state in Angola from the creation of the first diamond company in 1917 to the end of the Angolan civil war in 2002. Drawing on a wide range of untapped official documents and on interviews, it argues that the diamond sector has functioned historically as the conduit through which the state projects its power and secures its interests in strategic but hostile territory.