ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the performance of Partido Africano para a Independência de Guiné-Bissau e Cabo Verde (PAIGC) after achieving state power. The political and military organisation and the social, educational and economic infrastructure installed by PAIGC, rudimentary though it was, has been interpreted as the essence of independent Guinea-Bissau. Amílcar Cabral was deeply concerned about the unity of the leading ranks of the PAIGC, mainly urban-based intellectuals, many of them of Cape Verdean origin, and the peasantry. Once in power, PAIGC faced overwhelming and critical challenges: consolidation of the nation state within the colonial borders as well as state-building and economic development from within. PAIGC wanted to induce change through the political and ideological mobilisation of the people. The educational system and the village committees were among the most important mechanisms and dynamic institutions on the local level. The political system of Guinea-Bissau is characterised by belated institutional democratisation.
