Youth agency, youth resistance, and the politics of future-making in Mozambique

Youth mobilisation in Mozambique is often framed as a reactive response to governance failures, obscuring its future-oriented dimension. Framing youth mobilisation primarily as reactive obscures how youth formulate political alternatives, reshape claims to democratic legitimacy, and influence states’ long-term trajectories amid demographic pressure and political exclusion. This study addresses that gap by developing a global futures perspective that examines how Mozambican youth movements challenge state-led development narratives and negotiate competing visions of the country's global future. Drawing on interviews and focus group discussions with 49 respondents, two case studies (the #PovoNoPoder movement and the 2024 post-election protests), and secondary data, the study examines how youth agency is produced and expressed in Mozambique. It concludes that these movements functioned as architects of alternative futures, reshaping democratic legitimacy and national belonging. The findings contribute to youth resistance scholarship by conceptualising resistance as a process of future-making rather than solely as grievance-driven action.