Paper short abstract:

This paper compares the state trajectories of Ghana and Uganda over the last 30 years. Against the backdrop of their distinct ‘poliscapes’, the emergence of Rawlings and Museveni marked a rupture in which an alternative set of imaginaries took centre-stage

Paper long abstract:

This paper compares the state trajectories of Ghana and Uganda over the last 30 years. The two countries share elements of a colonial legacy, in the shape of former kingdoms whose prominence in the architecture of the post-colonial state has been a recurrent political issue, and a pronounced pattern of uneven development. They both experienced periods of military rule in the 1970s that destabilized state institutions in fundamental ways. Against the backdrop of their distinct 'poliscapes', the emergence of Rawlings and Museveni marked a rupture in which an alternative set of imaginaries - in which mass participation and national unity would replace the divisiveness and corruption associated with multipartyism - took centre-stage. The paper seeks to compare these populist projects and to explain why their trajectories began to diverge again in the late 1980s. In each case, there were external and internal pressures that forced the regimes to accept the principle of multipartyism. But whereas the NDC in Ghana reconciled itself to competing on a level playing field, the Museveni regime was able to frustrate the demands for a complete democratic opening. The reasons lie partly in the greater coherence of entrenched political traditions in Ghana; in the differential levels of autonomy accorded to key state institutions; and the ability of the Museveni regime to instrumentalize the Kony insurgency for political ends.