“Welfare” Policies in the Portuguese Empire in Africa (1960s)

Abstract

Following World War II (1939-1945), in different ways and to different extents, European imperial and colonial endeavors manifested dynamics of institutional, administrative, and ideological innovation, aimed at addressing the multiple obstacles to their legitimacy and continuity. Critical scrutiny of their modi operandi intensified, involving a growing number of individuals, groups, and networks, each operating in different contexts, with varying motivations and objectives. Pressures to renew or dismantle imperial and colonial solutions multiplied. As these changes unfolded, sometimes proactively and at other times reactively, imperial and colonial authorities conceived and developed new languages and repertoires of administration. These approaches were marked by arguments and plans for development and societal modernization, as well as new policies of difference, producing renewed mechanisms of regulation, and social, political, and economic inclusion and exclusion. This article analyzes a specific aspect of these transformations, namely, the emergence of “welfare colonialism” in the Portuguese colonial empire. It contextualizes this phenomenon within an international framework, which includes inter-imperial dynamics. The text mainly focuses on the “overseas province” of Angola, particularly on the field of labor, showing how developmentalist and “welfare” orientations were deeply conditioned by (and thus became useful for) security concerns.