Autocratization in Contemporary Uganda - by Moses Khisa

About the Book

An exploration of the autocratization in Museveni's Uganda, seeking to explain both resilience and the deepening of personalist rule.

Book Synopsis

Autocratization in Contemporary Ugandaanalyses two interrelated outcomes: autocratisation, manifest in the deepening of personalist rule or Musevenism, and the regime resilience that has made Museveni one of Africa's current-longest surviving rulers. How has this feat been possible, and what has been the trajectory of Museveni's increasingly autocratic rule?

Surveying that trajectory since 1986, the book takes as its primary focus the years since 2005; bringing to the fore the 'autocratic turn', placing it within a broader comparative lens, and enriching it with comparative references to cases outside of Uganda. While positing the notion of 'autocratic adaptability' as a defining hallmark of Museveni's rule, the book examines the factors and forces that have made that adaptability possible, analysing the dynamics around three keys themes: institutions, resources, and coalitions. Through empirical research, each chapter seeks to demonstrate how either one or two of these three variables have functioned in propelling autocratization and assuring regime resilience - producing theoretical and and comparative implications that reach beyond Uganda.

Review Quotes

In theorizing Uganda's politics, this book propels the prevailing research agenda beyond current parameters, while its empirical underpinnings provide a scholarly tone for practical future inquiry.
Joshua B. Rubongoya, Professor, Roanoke College, USA

There has been a welcome recent spate of books on the Yoweri Museveni/NRM regime in Uganda, but the breadth and depth of this anthology is quite significant and refreshing; it is also quite timely.
Joe Oloka-Onyango, Professor of Law, Makerere University, Uganda,

This compilation of insightful essays charts the autocratization of Uganda since President Yower Museveni's takeover in 1986, effectively demonstrating how the regime has become increasingly personalized and institutionally fragmented. The book shows how the longevity of the regime is a result of cooptation and coercion. Each chapter examines a different set of institutions to uncover mechanisms of institutional adaptability, pervasive clientelism, and legal manipulation. Taken as a whole, the book provides a significant contribution to our understanding of how autocracy operates today in Africa.
Aili Mari Tripp, Vilas Research Professor, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA

About the Author

Moses Khisa is Associate Professor of Political Science and Africana Studies, North Carolina State University, USA.