Author Description

This book examines the complex relationship between the Portuguese authoritarian regime, the domestic textile industry, and colonial cotton production in Angola and Mozambique. Contrary to the common assumption, it argues that state policies did not always favour Portugal's major industry, nor did links with the empire consistently benefit it. Pitcher argues that instead conflicting interests and contradictory policies had unintentional, even debilitating, effects on many participants in the system. She exposes the pitfalls of authoritarian economic solutions and assesses the influence of empire on the development of a major industry.