ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on Angola’s idiosyncratic and often dysfunctional foreign policy. In addition, the Angolan government was unable to fully capitalize on important changes which occurred at regional and international levels to improve Angola’s domestic security. The foreign policy-making process in Angola was affected by the transition to multi-party politics in the early 1990s. Decolonization in Angola was precipitated by a military coup in Portugal that deposed the regime of Marcelo Caetano on 25 April 1974. Immediately after independence and in the aftermath of the ill-fated Zairian invasion by anti-Mobutu forces based in Angola, President Agostinho Neto attempted to normalize relations with Zaire. The new Angolan regime understood that its ability to establish a viable state depended, to a considerable degree, on its ability to help establish friendly regimes in both neighboring states. To counter Angola’s threat, South Africa further expanded its security and military apparatus to both suppress opposition at home and destabilize the region.
