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Museveni's Uganda: Paradoxes of power in a hybrid regime

2011; Oxford University Press; Volume: 111; Issue: 442 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1093/afraf/adr067

1468-2621

Sarah Biecker,

Global Peace and Security Dynamics

Why is Uganda still today the Uganda of Yoweri Museveni? Aili Mari Tripp's book provides answers to this question, and is recommendable to anyone interested in the state of Ugandan politics. Well-written, well-structured and highly comprehensible, this text is particularly valuable for use in university courses on politics in Africa. Its starting point is Tripp's observation that since 1990 numerous African states have oscillated between democracy and authoritarianism. Existing in this limbo since 1986, when Museveni came to power, Uganda is no exception, but rather an excellent example of how semi-authoritarian regimes are characterized by ‘paradoxes of power’. Tripp uses the term to describe the contradictions of hybrid regimes between ‘two divergent impulses: they promote civil rights and political liberties, and yet they unpredictably curtail those same rights and liberties’ (p. 1). Hence, according to Tripp, through analysing Uganda one learns more about semi-authoritarian regimes in general, and is helped to understand for example the fact that ‘[o]rdinary citizens may not find these regimes especially repressive because, as long as they do not belong to the opposition or engage in advocacy, they can often go about their daily activities with little consequence’ (p. 14).