Local Powers and Decentralization in Southern Mozambique: The Case of the Administrative Post of Mocumbi

This dissertation is about the emergence of old and new political actors such as rég;Ja;, retumees and NGOs in Mocumbi, Southern Mozambique and the local appropriation of a neo-liberal democratic dîscourse. It explores local power dynamics in the context of post-war democratization and decentralization policies in Mozambique and provides historical evidence that suggests the centrality of family eiders in local politics in Mocumbi. Due, in part, to the predominance of scattered settlements and abundance of land in tliis part of the country, colonial and post colonial administrative structures have respectively proved ineffective in extending Portuguese control, promoting rural development or democratising the socialist party state, instead - all extemal power structures have been reshaped and appropriated locally