Columbia International Affairs Online: Working Papers

CIAO DATE: 01/2012

Mozambique Synthesis Analysis: Between Pockets of Efficiency and Elite Capture

Lars Buur, Obede Baloi, Carlota Mondlane Tembe

January 2012

Danish Institute for International Studies

Abstract

This DIIS Working Paper synthesises the main findings from four case studies of productive sectors in Mozambique, addressing the research questions above. Four productive initiatives are analysed – sugar rehabilitation, semi-industrial fisheries, poultry, and cashew. The paper argues that they are supported when they tap into the ruling party coalition’s priorities concerning political survival, whether this means electoral victory, coalition maintenance, state expansion or reforms of the economy and political domain in such a way that regime survival is ensured. We also suggest that ideological projects concerning state unity and the transformation of society are important, just as a certain historical determination is at stake as sectors with a track record for the delivery of political goals are supported. In other words, a particular productive sector’s relationship to the ruling coalition matters. But ruling coalition and government support alone cannot explain why some sectors are supported and others not. We suggest that, besides political support, bureaucratic support is crucial, as the bureaucracy is needed to act as both an embedded and mediating bureaucracy, something which can often only be found in certain ‘pockets of efficiency’.