A “Crise” de Representação Política

Obstáculos à Accountability Vertical em Angola

Abstract

In contemporary political science, there is discussion of the so-called "crisis of political representation." This crisis is embodied by a set of institutional and behavioral factors of political elites that exacerbate the differentiation between rulers and the ruled, as well as the difficulties faced by the original holder of power, the sovereign people, in controlling their representatives, who are legitimized by an electoral process to articulate the interests of citizens and transform these concerns into public policies. This is the essence of the entire block of political representation. The Angolan case demonstrates a crisis of political representation, grounded in the fact that the Angolan electoral system has specificities that tend to transform the representative mandate into a party-imperative mandate, distancing representatives further from those they represent. Moreover, the high abstention rate in the last elections of 2022, along with the low levels of civic and political participation among Angolans, based on a study conducted in 2024 by Mosaiko, an institute linked to the Catholic Church, titled “Makas da participação,” further support this conclusion about the crisis of political representation. This analysis will use a qualitative approach, relying on existing literature and studies already conducted on the subject, seeking to contextualize them within the political reality of Angola and taking into account the contemporary approach to Vertical Accountability.