1 - Peace and Democracy in Mozambique: An Endless Transition

Abstract

Mozambique has long been considered a political success story in Africa.
Nevertheless, it was clear from the signing of the General Peace Agreement in
1992 and the first general elections in 1994 that the official narrative of this
success hid severe problems. The major challenge for Mozambican democracy
has been the management of the electoral process. With little transparency and
not much evidence of legal process, the consequence has been the repeated
resurgence of political tensions and military clashes between Renamo and the
Frelimo-led national Government. This paper seeks to explore the relationship
between ‘negative peace’ and the lack of transparency in Mozambican electoral
processes, whose main consequence is an ‘endless transition’ towards a ‘normal’
model of democracy.