Increasingly, the South West Africa People’s Organization (SWAPO) is on shaky ground, caught between internal factionalism and external resentment. Whereas no major new political party has emerged since independence, opposition parties are gradually gaining support, mainly among young voters, and now control the three most important economic centers, weakening SWAPO's thirty-year one-party domination.

Mineral revenues are the driving force behind Namibia’s economic performance. Namibia is rich in mineral resources which include uranium, diamond, copper, gold, lead, lithium and zinc. However, these mineral riches are not always allocated and utilized in a transparent manner and seem to benefit disproportionately a small number of wealthy elites, many of them affiliated with the ruling party SWAPO.

The relationship between Namibia and its historical partners has evolved over the last thirty years since Namibian independence. As in many countries, Namibia has been going through transformation, influenced by the process of globalization. This created new sets of geopolitical challenges and opened up new opportunities for Namibia's small and poorly diversified economy which has relied heavily on the mining industry.