This talk, co-hosted by the CGHR and CRIA, features Ricardo Soares de Oliveira on his new book Magnificent and Beggar Land. He is the Associate Professor in Comparative Politics, University of Oxford, fellow of St Peter´s College, Oxford, and fellow of the Global Public Policy Institute, Berlin. The book is a powerful account of fast-changing dynamics in Angola, an important African state that is a key exporter of oil and diamonds and a growing power on the continent. Based on three years of research and extensive first-hand knowledge of Angola, it documents the rise of a major economy and its insertion in the international system since it emerged in 2002 from one of Africa’s longest and deadliest civil war. How has the regime, led by President José Eduardo dos Santos since 1979, dealt with upcoming challenges, and can it deliver on popular expectations? Soares de Oliveira’s book charts the remarkable course the country has taken in recent years.