CESA

Brief Paper 2/1995: A Constituição do Estado Moderno em África: O problema das fronteiras: a propósito de um artigo de Wole Soynka

Abstract:

The constitution of the modern state in Africa is inevitably linked to the Berlin Conference and, inevitably, it is also loaded with a symbology that characterises it as one of the main events in the historiography of modern Africa. This idea seems a little exaggerated to us, as Elikia M ‘BOKOLO points out in “Afrique Noire Histoire et Civilisations”, since, if on the one hand, the Conference was essentially the result of a German initiative, a power which, compared to its European counterparts, had fewer interests in Africa, on the other, it in fact corresponded, roughly speaking, to the regulation of questions arising from the commercial exploitation of the territories that each country claimed for its sphere of influence. In fact, this question of effective occupation became the core of other questions at the heart of the game of European powers and the confrontation of their interests, but it was, above all, the origin of a polemic that has not ceased to disturb international public opinion to this day, also becoming, on the African side, one of the main points as regards its political, economic and social evolution. In fact, the problem of the intangibility of borders has become, especially in recent times and after the rise to independence of most African nations, one of the most worrying issues for national entities and international bodies. A constituição do Estado Moderno em África : o problema das fronteiras : a propósito de um artigo de Wole Soynka was elaborated within the scope of the course História de África of the Master in International Development and Cooperation taught at the ISEG/UTL, of which Prof. Joana Pereira Leite is in charge.

Quotation:

Borges, João Melo. 1995. “A constituição do Estado Moderno em África : o problema das fronteiras : a propósito de um artigo de Wole Soynka”. Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão – CEsA Brief papers nº 2-1995

Brief Paper 1/1994: O(s) Modelo(s) de Desenvolvimento da Ásia Oriental e a África Subsaariana

Abstract:

The fact that the economies of East Asia and Southeast Asia have emerged as an example of relatively successful economic and social development has led many authors and, in particular, international economic institutions such as the “sisters in the woods” (the felicitous name given to the World Bank and the IMF by a survey in The Economist), to see the model of extroverted growth adopted by the countries of those regions as a real horizon and “manual for action” for the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa. The relative success of Mauritius in pursuing a strategy similar to this model has reinforced the idea that it is possible (and even desirable) to apply the Asian growth model to Black Africa. O(s) modelo(s) de desenvolvimento da Ásia Oriental e a África Subsaariana aims to discuss this “transferability”. To this end, we shall begin by summarising the characteristics of the Asian model(s), and then move on to confront the East Asian reality with that of Africa in order to determine whether the elements that proved fundamental to the success of the Far Eastern countries are present to the south of the Sahara.

Quotation:

Serra, António M. de Almeida. 1994. “O(s) modelo(s) de desenvolvimento da Ásia Oriental e a África Subsaariana”. Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão – CEsA Brief papers nº 1-1994.

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Working Paper 185/2021: Conflict Resolution Interventions in the Conflict Cycle

Abstract:

The objective of this article is to describe the Conflict Resolution interventions used throughout the conflict cycle. The article first presents five levels of conflict intensity of the conflict cycle, namely the levels of Stable Peace, Unstable Peace, Conflict, Crisis, and War. Each level of conflict intensity is characterized by analyzing the variables of Galtung’s conflict triangle (behavior, attitudes, and goals), actors’ perceptions (friend, rival, and enemy), and the dominant strategy of interaction between actors (positive-sum, compromise, zero-sum, and negative-sum). Each level is illustrated with typical events associated with civil wars and wars between states and proposes threshold events of a possible change in the level of conflict intensity. The article then presents a set of Conflict Resolution approaches that can be carried out in each of the conflict intensity levels of the escalation and de escalation periods of the conflict cycle. Conflict Resolution is subdivided between interventions whose main objective is to contain violent conflict, here called Conflict Management, and interventions with a main objective of solving political problems, which can be Conflict Prevention, if they occur in the period of conflict escalation, or Conflict Termination, if they occur in the period of conflict de escalation. In Conflict Management we identify the interventions of: Crisis Management; Unilateral and Joint Internal Management; External Management in the form of Peacemaking or Peace Enforcement, and Traditional Peacekeeping. In Conflict Prevention we identify Structural and Direct Prevention. In Conflict Termination we identify Multidimensional Peacekeeping, Peacebuilding and Peace Consolidation (associated to Conflict Transformation). Additionally, we present two alternative approaches, Cosmopolitan Peace and Critical Approaches.

Quotation:

Sousa, Ricardo Real P. de e Gilberto Carvalho de Oliveira (2021). “Conflict resolution interventions in the conflict cycle”. Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão – CEsA/ CSG Documentos de Trabalho nº 185/2021.

Working Paper 183/2021: Dans le Dernier Sursaut de l’Estado da Índia (1951-1961): Témoignages inédits de deux femmes portugaises

Abstract:

During the last decade of Estado da Índia, the testimonies of two Portuguese women who embark on a trip to Goa have caught our attention, getting us to write Dans le dernier sursaut de l’Estado da Índia (1951-1961) : témoignages inédits de deux femmes portugaises. Born in 1926 and part of the first generation of Estado Novo, the authors belong to an educated elite and share an acute political awareness of the regime, choosing even to engage in the metropolis opposition movements. They left Portugal for Goa, the territory of their political exile, a society totally alien to them and an important moment of personal experience. The last decade of the Portuguese domination sign the last burst of Estado da Índia which is moving towards the return of its territories to the Indian Union in 1961. The stories left by these two women articulate a history of the Portuguese empire, learned on school benches, portraying an experience of the Salazarist regime and the confrontation of the authors’ experience in Goa. There they make their way on a tightrope, created both by the distance to the colonial administration and by the difficult penetrability of Goan society. In this interface and stemming from an everyday of existential precariousness, they get to know this society and engage in the cultural and political challenges that cross it. Back in Portugal and later on, one of the authors write her memories and the other wish for the exposure of the letters, that she daily written to her family . The memoirs and letters constitute a counterpoint testimony, on the one hand to that of the Portuguese of the Empire (whose statuses and belonging were defined in a colonial society) and, on the other, to that of the diasporas belonging to the Empire (Portuguese, Goans , Indians) by where it is also interesting to read the center from its periphery. Their testimonies and their reflections have very current accents on the way of writing, of thinking and living on existential, material, and symbolic borders that both separate and unite people.

Quotation:

Khouri, Nicole e Joana Pereira Leite (2021). “Dans le dernier sursaut de l’Estado da Índia (1951-1961) : témoignages inédits de deux femmes portugaises”. Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão – CEsA/ CSG –Documentos de Trabalho nº 183/2021.

Working Paper 182/2021: PAIGC a Face do Monopartidarismo na Guiné-Bissau (1974 a 1990)

Abstract:

The African Party for Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC) officially took control of political power in Guinea-Bissau in 1974, and for sixteen years has starred in the political scene with a single-party regime – a military dictatorship–with repressive practices as a method to control the opposition, intimidate and maintain power. Our purpose in PAIGC a face do monopartidarismo na Guiné-Bissau (1974 a 1990) is to verify why the party that was for a long time at the forefront of the country, acting as the only political force that controlled the state apparatus, had difficulty executing its main government proposals. For this we seek the following questions: What influence did colonization have on the formation of the PAIGC? Why did the PAIGC face difficulties and were forced to lose its binational identity considered as one of the bases of its ideological beginning? Why in the post-coup period of 1980 could the party not prevent other successive violent conflicts? Was social and ethnic divisionism noted in the internal structures of the PAIGC? The answer may be among other factors: in the legacy left by the colonial past, in the heterogeneity of the national social structure and in the contradictions resulting from the struggle for power within the PAIGC itself. Although, despite the difficulties that are observable, it cannot be refuted its importance as an important player in the construction of national political history.

Quotation:

Semedo, Rui Jorge (2021). “PAIGC a face do monopartidarismo na Guiné-Bissau (1974 a 1990)”. Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão – CEsA/CSG – Documentos de Trabalho nº 182/2021.

Working Paper 181/2021: A Vulnerabilidade à Pobreza das Mulheres Responsáveis por Famílias Monoparentais no Brasil e o Papel das Políticas Públicas

Abstract:

The deterioration of women’s income, and their consequent vulnerability to poverty, is particularly critical in the case of women who are the head of single-parent families – being them the only provider to the household, gender inequalities in the labor market affect them more significantly. A Vulnerabilidade à Pobreza das Mulheres Responsáveis por Famílias Monoparentais no Brasil e o Papel das Políticas Públicas seeks to understand the life experiences of these women, in Brazil, as well as the role of the State in alleviating their economic and social difficulties, where the effect of the Bolsa Família Programme will be studied in particular. The analysis of the Brazilian reality is enhanced by the presentation of relevant official statistics, complemented by a qualitative methodological approach based on semi-structured interviews conducted with women in this situation. It is concluded that their life experiences are affected by several hardships that are still relatively under-researched, but also by positive aspects related to their condition as single parents, above all in terms of their autonomy and perception of greater emancipation, as well as living in a safe and emotionaly stable environment.

Quotation:

Araújo, Clareana Lopes de e Sara Falcão Casaca (2021). “A vulnerabilidade à pobreza das mulheres responsáveis por famílias monoparentais no Brasil e o papel das políticas públicas”. Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão – CEsA/ CSG – Documentos de Trabalho nº 181/2021.

Working Paper 180/2021: O Elemento Angolar de São Tomé: Uma discussão da sua origem

Abstract:

São Tomé and Príncipe is a small archipelago in the Gulf of Guinea formed by two main islands, namely: the island of São Tomé, which is the larger of the two, and the island of Príncipe. Its total area is 997 km2 (Cf. BM, BdP) and is approximately 300 km from the west coast of the African continent. The archipelago was colonized by Portugal between 1485 and 1974 and became independent on July 12, 1975, after a seven-month transition period. The territory was populated with exiles, small Jews, many African slaves and some volunteers from Europe. The slave labor regime introduced since the beginning of the settlement was very violent for the African labor in such a way that some found in the escapes to the forests close to the farms a way to escape the mistreatment of the Europeans and live in freedom and subsistence goods and some schemes to compose their survival, namely assaults and attacks on farms to obtain food and women. This population that lived and reproduced in the bush for centuries, unlike an original population, which some believe to have existed, gave rise to the so-called “Angolas” and has been the subject of debates among academics as to its origin. This article discusses this and seeks to clarify the origin of the “Angolar” ethnic group on the island of São Tomé. O Elemento Angolar de São Tomé: Uma discussão da sua origem is divided into three parts: the first part (point 2) discusses the narrative of the shipwreck, the second part (point 3) establishes a relationship between fugitive slaves and “Black Gentiles” and the last point explains the origin of the designation “Angolas ” for that population group in the south of the island of São Tomé.

Quotation:

Santo, Armindo Espírito (2021). “O elemento angolar de São Tomé: uma discussão da sua origem”. Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão – CEsA/ CSG – Documentos de Trabalho nº 180/2021.

Working Paper 179/2020: Monetary Transitions in Cabo Verde: From the escudo zone to the exchange agreement with Portugal

Abstract:

Monetary Transitions in Cabo Verde: From the escudo zone to the exchange agreement with Portugal studies how, during the colonial period and within the framework of the monetary system of the Portuguese colonies, Cape Verde lived in a situation of relative monetary and exchange rate stability. After independence in 1975, the country underwent two monetary transitions: the first, immediately after independence and with the abandonment of parity with the Portuguese escudo; and the second, from 1998 onwards, following an exchange rate cooperation agreement with Portugal. During both transitions, the country was able to rebuild monetary and exchange rate stability, depending on how institutional and external stability factors were used in each of them. However, the second transition significantly affected the evolution of international trade and investment in Cape Verde, whose expansion resulted in strong growth in the economy and exports. This article analyses not only the conditions of monetary and exchange rate stability in the two transitions, but also the nature of the changes that occurred with the second transition. These changes translated into a trend of structural transformation and consolidation of the market economy in Cape Verde, paving the way for the good economic performance of recent decades.

Quotation:

Estêvão, João (2020). “Monetary transitions in Cabo Verde : from the escudo zone to the exchange agreement with Portugal”. Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão – CEsA/ CSG – Documentos de Trabalho nº 179/2020.

Working Paper 178/2020: The Global Value Chains and the Evolution of Chinese Economic Model

Abstract:

According to the Word Bank in the first 38 years of China Economic Reform took 700 million people out poverty line in China at same time benefiting the Global South economy due to the integration of the Transnational Enterprises Global Value Chains with China. Chinese government understood the economic rational of Global Value Chains, Flying Geese Model and Foreign Direct Investment Theories and introduced policies to attract foreign capital, technology, production, and foreign buyers, placing China as the final stage of the production networks in Asia and also transforming China in the biggest buying market of many resources and energy suppliers from less developed countries in Asia, Africa and South America. But a new model of Chinese economic development even more interconnected and interdependent with the world is now on move. Even quite before the world acknowledge the protectionist mindset of the US in Trump era, Chinese President Xi Jinping launched in 2013 a very ambitious initiative under the name of “One Road One Belt the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road” to enhance a new stage of world globalization, which together with two complimentary initiatives the “International Production Cooperation” and “Third-country Market Cooperation” and in complementarity with the “Made in China 2025” and “Internet Plus” plans will lead China to develop Global Value Chains leaded by Chinese companies and integrating countries of Europe, Africa, Asia, and South America, studied in The Global Value Chains and the Evolution of Chinese Economic Model.

Quotation:

Ilhéu, Fernanda (2020). “The global value chains and the evolution of chinese economic model”. Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão – CEsA/ CSG Documentos de Trabalho nº 178/2020.