About us

CEDESA has the full legal designation of ASSOCIAÇÃO CEDESA-CENTRO DE ESTUDOS PARA O DESENVOLVIMENTO ECONÓMICO E SOCIAL DE ÁFRICA and is a non-profit-based private law association, dedicated to the study and investigation of political and economic issues of Austral Africa, especially Angola, which was created by several academics and experts that met at the ARN (Angola Research Network). https://www.angolaresearchnetwork.org/

Its main objective is to provide political decision makers, the business community, academics and students, as well as the interested population, with rigorous analyses of economic perspectives in Angola and neighboring countries, to carry out consistent suggestions of policies to be followed.

It counts with a dynamic and vast group of academics and researchers following a multidisciplinary approach. This team guarantees a competent and impartial work.

The texts follow British tradition, so they are not signed, as they result from collective work. What is important are the ideas and not the people who write them. This avoids fulanisation and biased discussion.

It acts as a global network of researchers.

Team

CEDESA is directed by a president of the Board, Felipe de Saavedra e Santos, PhD in History and Education Sciences (Spain and New Zealand) and coordinator of Angola Research Network and a vice president of the board, Rui Verde, Doctor of Law, currently at Oxford University and member of Chatham House.

The Secretary General and responsible for the communication of the Center is Miguel Almeida Dias, Master in Political Economy (England). Its team is varied and results from the collaborative work from some ARN members, in which is affiliated.

CEDESA

Felipe de Saavedra e Santos

President of CEDESA

PhD in History, Education and Portuguese Studies.
Cultural Counselor of the Camões Institute.
Pioneer in Portugal in the creation of postgraduate studies in Angolan Studies, Post-Imperial Studies and a Master in Colonial and Postcolonial Studies, Lisbon 2003.
Organized the first and second International Congress of Angolanistics, Lisbon 2019 and 2022, respectively.

Rui Santos Verde

Vice-President of CEDESA

Doctor of Law and Doctor (H.C.) in Human Sciences
Research Associate at Oxford University’s African Studies Center; Non-resident researcher at the University of Johannesburg; Distinguished Professor at the Institute of Indian Management-Research, member of Chatham House
Makaangola’s legal editor.

Eliseu Gonçalves

President of the General Assembly of CEDESA and Research Director of the CEDESA´s Law Department

Master in Law. Attorney.
He served as Legal Consultant for the National Commission for the Fight Against Poverty of the Civil House of the Presidency of the Republic of Angola, Director of the Legal Office of the Ministry of Industry of Angola and Legal Consultant for the ReMA-Rede de Mediatecas de Angola.
Partner at TaskLegal Advogados

João Shang

Research Associate at CEDESA (China-Africa area)

Writer, Academic, African Literature Mentor, Economic Researcher and University Professor
Principal Researcher at the Kwenda Institute, China.
Visiting Professor at Beijing University-International Business and Economics
Principal Researcher - The China World Trade Centre

Miguel Almeida Dias

General Secretary of CEDESA

MA in International Political Economy at Newcastle University, UK. Former vice rector of a private university in Angola. University professor in Portugal, Angola and Brazil having taught several subjects in the field of International Relations, such as Political Science, International Politics, Theory of International Relations or International Relations in Contemporary Europe.

Rui S. Verde, research director at CEDESA has just published his book “Angola at the crossroads. Between Kleptocracy and development“, by I.B. Tauris [London, New York, Oxford].

This book examines the post-Civil War period which began in 2002 and saw the rise of a corrupt ruling elite, as well as recent developments in the country, such as the efforts of the current President, João Lourenço, to reform the regime through some political openness, economic growth and a crackdown on corruption.

Rui Santos Verde analyses the country’s recent history of corruption and the current attempts at reform in order to determine whether economic and political development is on the horizon for Angola, or whether these reforms are simply a move towards consolidating President Lourenço’s personal power.