The possibility of the political in Lusophone Africa. Some theoretical subsidies
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.4000/cea.1082Keywords:
África lusófona, África, política, estudos africanosAbstract
This article is based on the assumption that the political transformations which have taken place in the Portuguese speaking countries of Africa over the past decades represent complex processes of recomposition which are not adequately grasped by current approaches to politics in Africa because of the perceptions underlying them. A critical examination of the conceptual frameworks for the analysis of politics in Africa favoured by the relevant international literature leads the authors to opt for a search for a balanced heuristic perspective. This perspective rejects all reductionist approaches based seemingly on notions of rationality and adopts a methodological attitude which suggests a line of enquiry into processes of constitution and reconstitution of political spheres and actors without taking the existence of «politics» for granted. This option implies two theoretical assumptions: the first one is the idea that all social realities, including political ones, are constituted through the action of individuals; the second one sees politics as a process in permanent constitution, and not as a perennial essence.
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