Abstract
Between 1986 and 1991, the political situation in Uganda improved markedly, compared to the desperate conditions that characterized the pre-1986 period. Despite the insurgencies in the north, much of the country was in a mood of political and infrastructural rehabilitation coupled with an economic renaissance. This mood grew out of a fresh political outlook in civil-military relations based on what appeared to be a new brand of political (NRM) and military (NRA) elites and an emerging progressive ideological orientation. The new military elites were under a strict code of conduct, to which they adhered very well—at least in ways that were qualitatively different from those of past armies in Uganda. The initial policy outcomes of the NRM government (security, economic growth, popular democracy, etc.) became an important springboard from which the NRM could claim some measure of popular consent, despite not having called for presidential elections. Whereas the authority of the NRM had initially been questionable, given their unconstitutional ascent to power, successful “introductory” programs (coupled with early local elections in 1989) did translate into a normative template for the rightful exercise of power. This was the starting point in answering the question raised at the beginning of this study, namely, how a new government authenticates its right to govern, having risen to power through extraconstitutional means and having vanquished a despotic regime such as Obote’s in 1986. The analysis in later chapters considers the challenges of nurturing and consolidating these policies, particularly those formulated after 1996; in the early years, however, there was clear evidence of state capacity reconstruction.
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Notes
Nelson Kasfir, “‘Movement’ Democracy, Legitimacy and Power in Uganda,” in Justus Mugaju and Oloka Onyango (eds.), No-Party Democracy in Uganda: Myths and Realities ( Kampala: Fountain Publishers, 2000 ), p. 65.
Rosalind E. Boyd, “Empowerment of Women in Uganda: Real or Symbolic,” in The Review of Political Economy vol. 45 /46 (1988): 106–116.
E. A. Brett, Providing for the Rural Poor: Institutional Decay and Transformation in Uganda ( Kampala: Fountain Publishers Ltd., 1993 ), p. 39.
Benjamin J. Odoki, “The Challenge of Constitution-Making and Implementation in Uganda,” in J. Oloka Onyango (ed.), Constitutionalism in Africa: Creating Opportunities, Facing Challenges ( Kampala: Fountain Publishers Ltd., 2001 ).
Oliver Furley, “Democratisation in Uganda,” in Commonwealth and Comparative Politics, vol. 38, no. 3 (November 2000): 85.
See John-Jean B. Barya, Popular Democracy and the Legitimacy of the Constitution: Some Reflections on Uganda’s Constitution-Making Process ( Kampala: Center for Basic Research, 1993 ), p. 30.
Arthur Bainomugisha, “The Empowerment of Women,” in Justus Mugaju (ed.), Uganda’s Age of Reforms: A Critical Overview ( Kampala: Fountain Publishers Ltd., 1999 ).
D. A. Low, “The Dislocated Polity,” in Holger Bernt Hansen and Michael Twaddle (eds.), Uganda Now: Between Decay and Development ( Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 1988 ), pp. 36–53.
Sallie Simba Kayunga, “The Impact of Armed Opposition on the Movement System,” in Justus Mugaju and J. Oloka-Onyango (eds.), No-Party Democracy in Uganda: Myths and Realities ( Kampala: Fountain Publishers, 2000 ).
Patrick Chabal and Jean-Pascal Daloz, Africa Works: Disorder as Political Instrument ( Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1999 ), p. 76.
Ellen Hauser, “Ugandan Relations with Western Donors in the 1990s: What Impact on Democratisation?” in Journal of Modern African Studiesvol. 37, no. 4 (1999): 621–641.
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© 2007 Joshua B. Rubongoya
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Rubongoya, J.B. (2007). Reconstructing the State: Challenges of Legitimacy and Power Consolidation. In: Regime Hegemony in Museveni’s Uganda. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230603363_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230603363_3
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