Publications

Working Paper 207/2025: The Historical Constraints of Africa South-South Cooperation: 30 years of TICAD through the lenses of South-South-Triangular Cooperation

Abstract

Placing emphasis on the concepts of self-reliance and self-help, this paper contributes to the broad literature on South-South and Triangular cooperation, first, to understand its conceptual significance to south-south cooperation; second, to understand why from an historical perspective south-south cooperation has not advanced in Africa; and third, drawing on three decades of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development, to understand the extent of TICAD contribution to promoting Africa’s self-reliance, essential to ending Africa’s marginalization and exit aid dependency. Based on insights from cross-analysis OECD reports, TICAD documents, UN and OAU historical resolutions, and secondary literature, through a qualitative and chronological approach, roughly from 1960 to 2022, we find that the role of TICAD through SS-TrC not only has contributed to structural development changes in Africa, but also redefined the paradigm of development assistance based on country ownership and equal partnership, thus becoming part of the Global Agenda for Development.

Cite this Working Paper

Amakasu Raposo de Medeiros Carvalho, Pedro Miguel (2025). “The Historical Constraints of Africa South-South Cooperation: 30 years of TICAD through the lenses of South-South-Triangular Cooperation”. CEsA/ISEG Research – Documentos de trabalho nº 207/2025

Working Paper 206/2025: Multiplexing Corporate Power: Navigating corporate autonomy in the EU Global Gateway

Abstract

The EU’s Global Gateway initiative relies on corporations to achieve geoeconomic goals, creating structural dependence on actors with autonomous transformation capacity. By analyzing official documents and three flagship projects (Lobito Corridor (Angola), Dakar BRT (Senegal), and Lumut Maritime Industrial City (Malaysia)) I develop a “geoeconomic force multiplexing” framework explaining how corporations process public inputs across geographic, sectoral, temporal, and network dimensions. Four “multiplexer profiles” emerge from the interaction of leverage and patron dependence: autonomous (high leverage, low dependence), directed (high leverage, high dependence), bounded (low leverage, high dependence), and opportunistic (low leverage, low dependence). The EU faces inherent tension: channeling priorities through high-leverage corporations invites lower steerability, while more dependent actors lack transformative capacity. Delegating implementation to corporate actors creates path-dependent lock-ins that may redirect or undermine original objectives.

Cite this Working Paper

Pais Bernardo, Luís (2025). “Multiplexing Corporate Power: Navigating corporate autonomy in the EU Global Gateway”. CEsA/ISEG Research – Documentos de trabalho nº 206/2025

Visa policy and its potential on attracting inbound tourism flows in Angola

Abstract

Over time, tourism has accompanied the evolution of societies and today it is often considered as a driver of economic and social development for many countries. Despite this, Angola continues to record relatively low numbers of international flows of tourists. According to Angola’s Tourism Master Plan a number of arrivals ranging from 1.4 to 3.5 million was expected for 2017, and in reality, 0.26 million were recorded, which is about 5 to 13 times lower than initial projections (MEPA, 2020). The analysis of this reality alerted to the fact that natural and cultural resources, the availability of quality infrastructure and the general operating conditions of a country such as safety, hygiene, and health conditions, are essential factors of competitiveness, but are not exclusive. Entry into Angola requires a visa application for most countries of origin of tourists. In 2017 of the fifteen countries that most traveled to Angola, only two did not require a prior visa and four did not require a visa upon arrival (MEPA, 2020). This finding and the legal changes introduced in 2018, in the visa policy, motivated this study which aims to answer the following starting question: To what extent the visa policy is important for the development of foreign tourism in Angola?

The paper is structured in different sections. It begins with an introduction, followed by the state of the art. The second section presents the evolution of tourism in Angola in the last decades, both in legislative and statistical terms, contextualizing the political and social economic situation experienced as well as the visa policy and the main options and legal framework. In the third section, the methodology adopted is presented followed by the discussion of results.

Cite this paper

Sarmento, E., & Silva, E. (2025). Visa policy and its potential on attracting inbound tourism flows in Angola. In Eduardo Brito-Henriques, Eduarda Marques da Costa & Patrícia Abrantes, Planeamento Territorial e Turismo. Estudos em homenagem a José Manuel Simões (Cap. 13, pp. 153-162). ISBN: 978-989-693-188-9. Lisboa: Centro de Estudos Geográficos da Universidade de Lisboa. ISBN 978-972-636-316-3 DOI 10.33787/CEG20250001

Direitos Humanos, Económicos e Sociais em São Tomé e Príncipe

Abstract

The 2024 report on Economic and Social Human Rights in São Tomé and Príncipe, developed within the scope of the projects “Observatory of Policies and Governance in São Tomé and Príncipe” and “Better Governance, More Rights, More Citizenship”, presents a detailed analysis of the Santomean population’s access to basic rights such as housing, health, education, food, water, and justice.

Cite this Book

Sangreman, C. et al (2024). Direitos Humanos, Económicos e Sociais em São Tomé e Príncipe. Lisboa: ACEP.

Working Paper 205/2025: Obstacles to US Pension Fund Investment in Africa

Abstract

Pathways for Black Studies in Portugal. A New Field of Knowledge and Research

Abstract:

Reflecting on contemporary epistemologies of European Blackness
Long absent from research in the humanities and social sciences, Black people in continental Europe have become the focus of a growing body of literature in the past two decades that addresses their unique history and social positioning. Black Studies in Europe: An Anthology of Soil and Seeds brings together essays and case studies by a collective of scholars, writers, and activists to offer a critical overview of the emerging field of Black European studies and a vital reflection on contemporary epistemologies of European Blackness. This collection addresses key questions: What is Blackness from a European standpoint? Which epistemologies and theoretical tools have been used to offer a better understanding of Black experiences in Europe? How is this knowledge being produced and by whom? Can we define a common European conceptual framework for Black studies? Related to this work is an even more urgent enterprise: forging an epistemological distinction between the study of Black people and “Black studies” as an emancipatory project.

Women’s Agricultural Production in Guinea-Bissau as a Means of Strengthening Their Identity

Abstract:

This article was developed from the study done for the Swiss Cooperation in Guinea-Bissau on women horticulturists. The data were obtained by surveys and interviews in the regions of Bissau, Biombo, Bafatá and Oio, with the producers (which also include a limited number of male producers) of leguminous agricultural products, in a sample of 160/1063 people chosen at random. To better understand the results, it must be said that this business model is not very profitable, but it is an activity that gives a greater independence of women in relation to men in the family space, combating the existing male authoritarianism, since decisions about the use of profits belong to the women producers. It also has a potential environment of action for the affirmation of the social (and not just family) identity of women that should not be despised although, as far as we can see, this is expressed for now only in the organization of associations of producers. The data matrix and the qualitative observations file are the property of SWISSAID, but the tables obtained from it can be provided to researchers who request them.

Cite this Paper:

Sangreman, C., & Melo, M. (2024). WOMEN’S AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION IN GUINEA-BISSAU AS A MEANS OF STRENGTHENING THEIR IDENTITY. Ars Educandi, 21. https://doi.org/10.26881/ae.2024.21.05

African agency in geopolitical times: playing with EU and Chinese ontological security

Abstract

In 2021 the European Union (EU) launched Global Gateway (GG). This new €300 billion European strategy is intended to boost the EU’s involvement in areas such as transport infrastructure, green energy, and digitalisation in developing countries. The African continent is expected to benefit with half of the expected figures. Much of the debate in the past few years has attempted to dissect the (geo)political, financial and economic dimensions of GG from the perspective of Brussels and EU Member States’ policymakers. However, very little has been discussed on how African policymakers have perceived GG. This paper will thus focus on African agency in the context of GG and the broader framework of Africa–EU relations. Moreover, it will compare this agency with that which has been displayed in the past decade of relations between Africa and China. Drawing on an ontological security analytical framework, the paper seeks to understand the new dynamics and contestations of African agency in the continent’s relations with the EU and China that have been ignored in both mainstream and critical approaches to EU foreign policy studies.

Cite this Paper

Duggan, N., Haastrup, T., Hogan, J. J., Mah, L., & Bernardo, L. (2025). African agency in geopolitical times: playing with EU and Chinese ontological security. Third World Quarterly, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/01436597.2025.2551134

Circuitos de Comercialização Informal de Produtos Agrícolas na Guiné-Bissau: Relatório de Análise

Abstract:

This book examines the informal circuits of agricultural product marketing in Guinea-Bissau, based on field research conducted across all regions of the country. Drawing on both quantitative and qualitative data, the study reveals the strategies, challenges, and operational logics adopted by vendors — particularly women — who ensure urban supply and the livelihood of thousands of families. Focusing on the female informal economy, it highlights practices of resistance, community solidarity, and exclusion. The book also offers recommendations for public policies that acknowledge and value this vital sector.

Cite this ebook:

Sangreman, C., & Vaz, J. (2025, agosto). Circuitos de comercialização informal de produtos agrícolas na Guiné-Bissau: Relatório de análise. Lisboa: CEsA/ISEG Research/ISEG. ISBN 978-989-54687-7-5

Mozambique, 50 years (1975–2025): Does the struggle continue?

Abstract:

This article revisits Samora Machel’s famous slogan ‘A luta continua’ (‘The struggle continues’) to analyse the 50 years of Mozambican independence (1975-2025). It argues that the initial anticolonial struggle has transformed into a series of protracted internal conflicts. Drawing on historical analysis and long-term ethnographic insight, the article traces a sequence of challenges: from FRELIMO’s postindependence turn to Marxism-Leninism and the devastating civil war with RENAMO, to the contemporary pressures of extractive capitalism and the recent jihadist insurgency in Cabo Delgado. The article analyses this latest conflict as a complex manifestation of local grievances articulated through a religious idiom. It concludes that in the face of these persistent crises and a flawed 2024 election, Machel’s revolutionary slogan now functions as a poignant interrogation of Mozambique’s unresolved contemporary dilemmas.

Cite this paper:

Macagno, L. (2025), Mozambique, 50 years (1975–2025): Does the struggle continue?. Anthropology Today, 41: 21-24. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8322.70006