Orientacoes superiores: Time and bureaucratic authority in Mozambique

This article examines the production, circulation, and interpretation of regulatory documents in contemporary Mozambique in order to highlight their central importance to processes of governance. The empirical focus is on orientações superiores – written and oral documents issued by figures and institutions of authority with the intention of advising on procedures for policy formulation and implementation. By producing orientações superiores in a way that leaves their intent ambiguous and their status provisional, party and state officials shift the focus of policy making from substance to process. In this way, bureaucratic authority is produced and reinforced through the manipulation of the timing of policy implementation. This perspective expands current understandings of African governance that on the whole have been limited to the analysis of the effectiveness of African institutions and policies, leaving the tactical effects of ambiguity, timing, and provisionality in policy implementation undertheorized.