PhD defence
Policing the Periphery: Party-anchored hybrid policing in Luanda, Angola
- A. Frank
- Date
- Tuesday 28 April 2026
- Time
- Address
-
Academy Building
Rapenburg 73
2311 GJ Leiden
Supervisor(s)
Summary
This PhD thesis investigates how hybrid policing networks function in the peri-urban neighbourhoods of 11 de Novembro and Cariango, in Cazenga municipality, Luanda, Angola, by analysing the interactions between the police and non-state forms of local authority. Using social network analysis, it contributes to debates on nodal governance and hybrid security governance in post-colonial African contexts.
The findings show that hybrid policing networks in the peri-urban areas of Luanda are MPLA anchored. Although their composition varies across sites, the underlying pattern is similar: shared party-state alignment and administrative embeddedness bind the police and party-state-affiliated non-state forms of local authority into tightly connected clusters. In functional terms, these policing networks operate less as systems of direct policing and more as mechanisms of surveillance, monitoring, and oversight, rather than as structures primarily engaged in activities such as patrolling or criminal investigation.
Overall, this thesis offers a nuanced understanding of how hybrid policing networks function in Luanda’s peri-urban neighbourhoods. It highlights the importance of historical and socio political factors in shaping local security governance. By conceptualising policing networks in peri-urban Luanda as MPLA-anchored hybrid networks, this study provides a contextually grounded account of how authority is organised and exercised at the neighbourhood level.
PhD dissertations
Approximately one week after the defence, PhD dissertations by Leiden PhD students are available digitally through the Leiden Repository, that offers free access to these PhD dissertations. Please note that in some cases a dissertation may be under embargo temporarily and access to its full-text version will only be granted later.
Press enquiries (journalists only)
+31 (0)71 527 1521
nieuws@leidenuniv.nl
General information
Beadle's Office
pedel@bb.leidenuniv.nl
+31 71 527 7211