Making Sense of Political Instability in Guinea-Bissau

The panel presents a set of chapters from the book “Making sense of political instability in Guinea-Bissau”, which situates the concept of ‘political instability’ in Guinea-Bissau within both a historical and spatial context. It discusses key aspects that help to explain the striking contrast between Guinea-Bissau’s apparent ‘marginality’ and the significant global attention it has garnered through news headlines and sustained international interventions. The chapter positions Guinea-Bissau within various regional and trans-regional dynamics, examining efforts by international and regional actors to address the country’s persistent crises. While these actors pursue different agendas in and through Guinea-Bissau, the chapter illustrates how Bissau-Guinean actors actively engage with these dynamics, asserting their agency. The book underscores the value of studying seemingly ‘marginal’ cases and contributes to broader academic debates on interconnected political processes in and beyond Africa.