Accounting for the great variation in long-term processes of state formation is an important part of the work conducted by historians, political scientists and economists, and requires interdisciplinary approaches and multi-disciplinary perspectives. This thesis focuses on the relationship between state formation and fiscal development – including both taxation and public spending patterns – in two former Portuguese colonies in Africa, Angola and Mozambique. Fiscal capacity and state development are tightly interconnected. Tax revenues are required to pay for basic government services, such as administration, security and law enforcement, while the ability to raise taxes and allocate public revenue depends on the capacity
of a state to wield power and legitimize its rule.
DW Angola
Development Workshop Angola