Melber, Henning2025-07-152025-07-152024Melber, H. 2024, 'Authoritarian populism under former liberation movements in southern Africa', Cadernos de Estudos Africanos, vol. 47, pp. 69-91, doi : 10.15847/cea47.41474.1645-3794 (print)2182-7400 (online)10.15847/cea47.41474http://hdl.handle.net/2263/103361This article is the considerably revised and expanded version of a keynote presented at the Conference “Pluralism: Democratisation and Electoral Integrity in Angola and Mozambique” at ISCTE – University Institute of Lisbon, on 14 December 2022 (www.pdeiam.com) and partly based on several previous analyses by the author.ENGLISH : Former liberation movements, who replaced white minority regimes in Southern Africa with the support of an international solidarity movement, have in retrospective failed to meet the expectations, also measured against what they had promised. The transition towards majority rule paved the way for a new elite project, with less benefits for the ordinary people than originally hoped for. This article takes critically stock of what can be considered as the limits to liberation. It seeks to explain the context and legacy of the struggle for self-determination when it comes to the failures of true emancipation.PORTUGUêS : Os movimentos de libertação que substituíram regimes de minoria branca na África Austral, com o apoio de um movimento de solidariedade internacional, têm, retrospetivamente, falhado em cumprir com as expectativas que outrora prometeram. A transição rumo à governação pela maioria abriu caminho a um novo projeto de elite, com menos benefícios para a população comum do que aquilo que originalmente se esperava. Este artigo analisa criticamente aquilo que pode ser considerado como os limites para a libertação, procurando explicar o contexto e legado da luta pela autodeterminação no que concerne aos fracassos de uma verdadeira emancipação.en© 2024 Centro de Estudos Internacionais do Iscte - Instituto Universitário de Lisboa. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.AngolaMozambiqueNamibiaSouth Africa (SA)ZimbabweLiberation movementsSouthern AfricaMoçambiqueÁfrica do SulZimbabuéMovimentos de libertaçãoÁfrica AustralArticle