The construction of internal borders in a borderland region of central Mozambique

Abstract

Modern Mozambique is characterised by well‐known political and economic imbalances inherited from its recent and less recent history. The north, the centre, and the south are still as disconnected from each other as they were during the first half of the twentieth century. On the other hand, the same areas are structurally and culturally linked to neighbouring territories, which form part of other states, through what are now called “transnational social networks” across particularly “porous” borders. The Mozambican state has also inherited smaller but equally significant internal divisions within each Province, even within each District, of the country. The last phase of colonial rule developed or consolidated local differences in the political economy of the territory, and this process was linked to the growth and consolidation of the international/"transnational” networks. Second, new internal borders (between the recently delineated “rural communities") are being constructed in the context of the implementation of the state reforms and development programmes on decentralisation, land, and management of natural resources in the post‐war period.

Notes

Dipartimento di Politica, Istituzioni, Storia, Università di Bologna, Strada Maggiore 45, Bologna, Italy, 40125 | [email protected]