The Politics of Peace in Mozambique: Post-Conflict Democratization, 1992-2000

Manning examines issues of democratization and conflict resolution through the lens of the Mozambican experience from 1992-2000. Since the end of the Cold War, a formal democratization process has been at the center of virtually every negotiated peace agreement to end a civil conflict. Nearly a decade after the Rome peace accord put an end to 16 years of civil war, Mozambique stands out as one of the world’s most unlikely postwar democratization success stories. What accounts for the durability of the postwar political settlement? What lessons does the Mozambican experience hold for other such cases?

Relying on original research conducted in Mozambique between 1994 and 1999, Manning argues that the country’s relatively successful postwar political settlement depends upon the ability of the system to accommodate conflicting notions of democratic and system legitimacy, through routine recourse to processes of sustained elite bargaining which supplement formal democratic institutions. In building her case, Manning provides a thorough and provocative analysis of the country’s civil conflict, presents ground-breaking work on the transformation of the Renamo rebel group into a political party, and the separation of the Relimo party-state into its respecive components, and he presents a clear-eyed analysis of the lessons and limits of Mozambique’s postwar success. Of particular interest to scholars, students, and policymakers involved with democratization, conflict resolution, and southern African politics.