Geopolitical transition and state formation: the changing political geographies of Angola, Mozambique and Namibia

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Abstract
Against the backdrop of decolonisation, the ending of white minority rule in southern Africa and the current restructuring of global geopolitical relations, this comparative paper evaluates the experiences of Angola, Mozambique and Namibia in forging and organising newly independent states. The principal focus is on the dialectic between official ideology and territorial (re‐)organisation, with due sensitivity to politico‐economic forces and the wider regional dynamic in each case. Analysis of these changing political geographies — the way in which space is organised and used by the state — provides important insights into processes of state formation, legitimisation and disintegration. Despite the similarities of colonial history, post‐colonial experience (including continuities of territorial organisation) and current predicaments, there have been some significant differences in the particular dynamics in Angola and Mozambique since 1975; though neither state has significantly restructured its internal territorial organisation. By contrast, a far‐reaching territorial reorganisation is now taking place in Namibia under a government which, unlike the MPLA and Frelimo, abandoned Marxism‐Leninism before independence.