Democracia liberal na África Subsaariana

: estudo das dinâmicas inerentes ao caso da Guiné-Bissau : da descolonização ao pós-abertura democrática

Abstract

Liberal democracy is based on the Western tradition of freedom, but it does not containstructural incompatibilities or insurmountable barriers to assertion in different realities. Insub-Saharan Africa, slavery and colonization have left deep scars, but independence has completed sixty years and, makes it difficult to accept the prevailing level of backwardness. The historical trajectory of the people helps to understand the nation's idiosyncrasies and to identify the support of the State, in order to assess the viability of the democratic regime. But isn't this stagnation a consequence of the disengagement and self-victimization that captures fragile states, privatizes and criminalizes them for individuals and groups, installing corruption and clientelism as the new normality? The Portuguese discoveries took place in the XV century, but the first administration in Guinea only in 1789 - beginning the colonial phenomenon. The PAIGC's national liberation struggle lasted from January 1963 to September 1974, and independence in 1973. It was then the first experience of a National State, with the PAIGC as the “directing political force of society”. The assassination of Amilcar Cabral strongly compromised the ideological orientation and the country slipped into coups and counter coups, attempts and inventions that destroyed all the credibility conquered, internally, in Africa and in the world. In 1985 the socialist orientation broke down and the structural adjustment program was the economic antechamber for the democratic opening (1991) and the holding of multiparty elections (1994). Political oppositions were then legalized, and parliamentary debate improved, promising greater control and oversight of the exercise of power. However, the wounds were deep and unhealed, and the reforms implemented without proper preparation and thought. In 1998, anarmed conflict broke out that destroyed the embryos of the State and Democracy, and exposed the fragility of institutions, the inability of the State to control the armed forces and guarantee the application of laws. Governments succeeded each other annually and elections only reinstated the process at the beginning, and everything repeated, mixed with assassinations even of the holders of the organs of sovereignty. The questioning of the solidity and adequacy of that State was inevitable, as a condition for democratic consolidation. After evaluating the assumptions of Robert Dahl's polyarchy for Guinea Bissau combined with a specific inquiry for the thesis, the thesis concluded that the viability of democracy and the liberal model are intrinsically linked to the construction of a strong and stable State, capable of targeting the development, and insure that the two premises are promoted simultaneously.

Date of Award	23 Jun 2022
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Mónica Dias (Supervisor) & Carlos Sangremman (Co-Supervisor)