Coup after coup in Uganda
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Date
1986
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Publisher
University of Dar es Salaam
Abstract
This work is the result of the investigation to the root causes of political instability in Uganda. For a long time scholars have studied the impact of Ethnicity, Religion and Regionalism on Uganda politics. These features, it has been argued are the evils of Uganda society and almost all scholars concur with that conclusion. They only differ on the involvement and interplay of those crucial issues. Whereas some consider the political instability to be directly attributed by the already sowed seeds of Ethnicity, Religion and Regionalism and therefore almost natural some see them as a stepping stone to political power by the riuing elites. However at different times each of them takes a leading role in disturbilization of political scene. This research is another proof that Ethnicity, Religion and. Regionalism are a societal problem in Uganda. The new contributions however are as follows. (a). Ethnicity or tribalism to be more precise, had played the major role in the 1985 Coup d 'etat. At the peak of the conflicts it was mainly the rivalry between the Langi. and the Acholi. (b). The destruction of solidarity and traditional ties among the Northerners has cost them a long overdue political and milltary hegemony. (c). Petty bourgeois politics and ideology has been one of the main contributions to political instability in Uganda. In other words, metooism and toomeism are regularised and they are too visible. The ruling elites would not like to genuinely draw an open way democracy towards the governance especially the Presidency. At the same time, there are many other elites and members of the petty bourgeoisie who always feel they could do "better" and given that there is no way open for them undermine the systems. This behaviour, the research has shown has very much entrenched itself among the Ugandan petty bourgeoisie. (d). Sectarianism emerges as another critical issue in antagonising the society. Regardless of the traditional issues, the elites identify themselves and take sides with the parties which they do or would benefit. (e). Reflecting a historical perspective as condenced in this study it is so far unrefutable that in Uganda, the one with military over rules. The political dynamics are a continuous process just like any other social phenomena. As such research work becomes a continuous process. What is special about Uganda is that the society is very much dynamic. Objectively the politics are charecterised by compact pressure; rapid and varying causal variables. Such a political scene calls for dynamic follow-up also. It calls for quick research so that the findings and analysis can be applied in order to empirically and effectively deal with political problems, given that the main contribution of research work is an application of its findings. If the results of the investigation come out after a long time it becomes obsolete and therefore not very much helpful in terms of advisory instrumentation . It is on this around that this dissertation becomes an important contribution in the first place and calls for more and continuous research work whose results are rapidly produced to match with dynamic Ugandan political scenery, in the second place
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Keywords
Uganda, Politics and Government, History, Coup d'etat
Citation
Mwanakatwe, A. H. (1986) Coup after coup in Uganda, Masters dissertation, University of Dar es Salaam. Available at (http://41.86.178.3/internetserver3.1.2/detail.aspx)