On the 50th anniversary of Mozambique’s independence, we explore the thinking of Samir Amin, an author who analyzed the fate of African countries after decolonization. In most cases, sovereignty did not translate into economic autonomy.
In works such as Accumulation on a World Scale (1970), Imperialism and Unequal Development (1977), and Maldevelopment: Anatomy of a Global Failure (1990), Samir Amin argued that the independence of African countries was largely “formal.” What does this mean? It means that the transfer of political administration was not accompanied by a transformation of the colonial economic structures. For Amin (who passed away in 2018 at the age of 86), post-independence Africa was subordinately incorporated into the global capitalist system through a dependent accumulation model.
Amin called this system “peripheral capitalism,” where African economies remained specialized in exporting raw materials and low value-added agricultural products. He considered industrialization—essential for any autonomous development project—marginalized. “Political independence without economic disconnection is an illusion,” Amin warned in his book Maldevelopment. This thesis helps explain why many African states, including Mozambique, despite independence, quickly faced growth crises, external dependency, and vulnerability to international price fluctuations.
“Disconnection,” a Path to Sovereignty
Samir Amin proposed a key idea to break this cycle: disconnection (delinking). Unlike isolation, disconnection meant a strategic reorientation of national economies, prioritizing the domestic market, endogenous industrialization, and control over key productive sectors, rather than submission to the interests and logics of the global market. Amin did not advocate isolation, but rather the development of an autonomous productive base as a condition for more balanced international integration. These ideas were not without criticism. Some economists considered them impractical. Many argued that in a globalized and interdependent world, it would be extremely difficult (or even impossible) for developing countries like those in Africa to fully disconnect from the global economic forces dominated by Western countries.
For example, Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Prize in Economics (2001), in his book Globalization and Its Discontents (2002), acknowledges that globalization has flaws, but the answer is not total “disconnection.” Instead, he suggests reforming the global economic system.
Mozambique and Amin’s Theories
Looking at Mozambique’s trajectory, we see how Amin’s ideas resonate with reality. Independence achieved in 1975 under Frelimo leadership was accompanied by an initial project of structural transformation: nationalization of key industries, land reform, and prioritization of education and health. In theory, Mozambique sought in its early years to follow a line similar to Amin’s proposed “disconnection.”
However, the shortage of qualified personnel, the civil war (1977–1992), and other internal and external turbulences, structural adjustment policies imposed by international creditors in the 1980s (like the IMF and World Bank), and neoliberal globalization fragmented that project. The shift toward economic liberalization, privatizations, and dependence on external aid from the 1990s reinforced, according to Amin’s framework, the pattern of subordinate integration into the global system. Some examples:
- Mozambique’s economy became highly dependent on natural resource megaprojects (gas, coal, aluminum, etc.) with little connection to the rest of the national economy;
- Agriculture (an area where colonial Mozambique was a strong exporter) has the potential for the country to be self-sufficient, but remains marginalized in the growth model and is reduced to subsistence farming.
Amin would have seen in this scenario a confirmation of the risk of “economic recolonization,” under new forms, something he described in later works such as The Liberal Virus (2003).
What Solutions Does Samir Amin Propose?
For the economist, the future of Africa—and Mozambique in particular—depends on:
- Sovereign reindustrialization anchored in the needs of the domestic market rather than primary exports;
- Popular mobilization policies, where the state plays an active role in economic planning without blindly submitting to free market logics;
- African regional integration to strengthen collective capacities and reduce external vulnerability;
- Land reform and the valorization of food production as bases for economic sovereignty.
Fifty years after achieving formal freedom, Mozambique, like much of Africa, faces the challenge of completing its independence in the economic domain. Samir Amin’s message is clear: “Without strategic disconnection and a development project centered on one’s own forces, independence remains incomplete.”
Revisiting this debate in light of current conditions is one of the most necessary tributes to the struggle for self-determination and the dream of Africa controlling its own destiny.
Reflecting on its 50 years of independence, Mozambique can find in Amin’s ideas a vigorous critique of past trajectories but also clues for building stronger, more autonomous alternatives.
Text: Celso Chambisso • Photo: D.R
