Mozambique, described by Former President Bill Clinton in 2000 as the “world’s fastest growing economy,” (Smith, 2000) has come a long way since the end of its fifteen‐year civil war. During the war, Mozambique earned its reputation as the country with the second‐highest infant mortality rate in the world (United Nations, 1995). What is most striking about Mozambique’s post‐conflict recovery is that the cessation of hostilities and a supportive international community have caused civil society (CS) to flourish.
The study of CS in the global North is nothing new, yet, civil society organizations and alliances have received much less attention in Africa. Of the African countries whose Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) have strengthened democratic processes, demanded economic reform, and advocated for increased freedoms, Lusophone Africa has been largely overlooked. Branwen Gruffydd Jones, a lecturer in Political Economy at the University of London, states that mainstream IR academic thought has overlooked both Africa and its endemic distributive inequality (Jones, 2005).
