After decades of civil war and instability, the African country of Angola is experiencing a spectacular economic boom thanks to its most valuable natural resource: oil. Focusing on the everyday realities of people living in the extraction zones, Reed explores the exclusion, degradation, and violence that are the fruits of petrocapitalism in Angola.

Once one of the world's largest staple food producers, Angola is now known as a major oil exporter - the second largest producer in sub-Saharan Africa. Angola is also the world's fourth largest producer of rough diamonds in terms of value, with the potential to become one of the leading global diamond producers. In addition to oil and diamonds, the country is well endowed with agricultural resources which remain mostly untapped. However, despite the country's significant natural wealth, a prolonged civil war, the rapid development of the oil sector, and the policies pursued after Independence in 1975 have left the Angolan economy in a unique situation, characterized by very uneven indicators of development. The Angolan economy is now experiencing massive oil windfall gains that are expected to last throughout the next decade. Since oil rents are to a large part concentrated in the public sector, the question of how the oil revenue should be spent and distributed across present and future generations becomes key to any economic development strategy. This study identifies six core areas where a strategic approach for the development of a broad-based growth strategy is required: (i) the incomplete transition to a market economy; (ii) macroeconomic management; (iii) governance and transparency in the management of the mineral wealth; (iv) the business environment; (v) agriculture; and (vi) public service delivery to the poor.

Angola has made enormous progress in the nine years since the end of its civil war. It is today one of Africa's wealthiest nations in terms of natural resources, and it is an emerging regional power in Africa. A key uncertainty is about Dos Santos' succession plans. Given the dominance of the MPLA, a disorderly transition could usher in a short period of uncertainty. This process could begin in 2012, following an inevitable MPLA victory in the legislative elections. More threatening are external shocks, especially a collapse in oil prices, because stability in the near term requires using oil rents to pay for goods, services, and patronage to offset rampant poverty and withstand the strain of a rapidly expanding urbanized population. Urban poverty remains Angola's biggest challenge, and it should be a key focus of U.S. development and governance efforts.

Magnificent and Beggar Land is a powerful account of fast-changing dynamics in Angola, an important African state that is a key exporter of oil and diamonds and a growing power on the continent. Based on three years of research and extensive first-hand knowledge of Angola, it documents the rise of a major economy and its insertion in the international system since it emerged in 2002 from one of Africa's longest and deadliest civil wars. The government, backed by a strategic alliance with China and working hand in glove with hundreds of thousands of expatriates, many from the former colonial power, Portugal, has pursued an ambitious agenda of state-led national reconstruction. This has resulted in double-digit growth in Sub-Saharan Africa's third largest economy and a state budget in excess of total western aid to the entire continent. Scarred by a history of slave trading, colonial plunder and war, Angolans now aspire to the building of a decent society. How has the regime, led by President José Eduardo dos Santos since 1979, dealt with these challenges, and can it deliver on popular expectations? Soares de Oliveira's book charts the remarkable course the country has taken in recent years.

Research report, political development, economic development, Angola, 1975-1985 - briefly reviews the economic policy on the eve of independence incl. Working conditions, standard of living, agricultural production, industrial production, trade, and foreign capital; studies economic recession (incl. Imports), the role of the black market, conflict with South Africa R; examines conditions for socialism (incl. Revolutionary change in the political system, nationalization, production relations, food security, etc.). References.

This book addresses different dimensions of cosmopolitanism in the Portuguese-speaking world which have caused much debate, such as migration and globalisation. The volume includes contributions from leading specialists in History, Musicology, Literary Studies, Anthropology and Political Sciences. It focuses on specific processes in Brazil, Portugal, West Africa, Angola, and other parts of the world, from the sixteenth century to the present. Central topics are intercontinental trading elites, the cultural impact of forced and voluntary migration, the republic of letters, the possibilities created by freemasonry and liberalism, the adaptation of the Azorean Holy Ghost Feast to the United States, international links of conservative politicians, the international projection of the new Angolan elite, architecture and urban planning. Contributors are: Vanda Anastácio, Cátia Antunes, Paulo Arruda, Francisco Bethencourt, Toby Green, Philip J. Havik, David R. M. Irving, João Leal, Giovanni Leoni, Ricardo Soares de Oliveira, António Costa Pinto, and Phillip Rothwell.