Magnificent and Beggar Land: Angola Since the Civil War

In this Weeks War Studies Podcast Xenia Zubova interviews Ricardo Soares de Oliveira about on the subject of his latest publication, 'Magnificent and Beggar Land: Angola Since the Civil War'. The author is an Associate Professor in Comparative Politics (African Politics) at the Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford. His research interests include African politics (particularly West and Central Africa), the geopolitics of energy and international political economy, especially in the fields of natural resource extraction, state decay and post-conflict reconstruction. He is the author of Oil and Politics in the Gulf of Guinea (2007), co-editor of China Returns to Africa: A Rising Power and a Continent Embrace (with Chris Alden and Daniel Large, 2008) and The New Protectorates: International Tutelage and the Making of Liberal States (with James Mayall, 2011). His latest book is Magnificent and Beggar Land: Angola Since the Civil War (2015). Soares de Oliveira has worked in the field of governance and the extractive industries for the World Bank, the European Commission, Catholic Relief Services, the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI), Oxfam, and the French Ministry of Defence, among others. About Magnificent and Beggar Land: 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. Jayne Peake provides next weeks events and discusses plans for a new initiative titled 'Arts and Conflict'. DISCLAIMER: Any information, statements or opinions contained in this podcast are those of the individual speakers. They do not represent the opinions of the Department of War Studies or King's College London.