Paper short abstract:

Within the context of the current debate on democratization in Sub-Saharan Africa, the paper raises some relevant questions on the relationship between poverty and democracy in Tanzania and the future of democracy in the country

Paper long abstract:

After the election of President Ali Hassan Mwinyi in 1995, Tanzania abandoned ujamaa, the socialist model of nation-building it had pursued during the previous twenty years, and started implementing a package of neoliberal economic reforms. In addition, in 1992 the country abandoned the one-party state and reintroduced multiparty politics. The paper analyses the economic and social effects of shift from socialism to neoliberalism in Tanzania, and shows that the negative effects of the neoliberal economic reforms gradually eroded the political legitimacy of the Chama cha Mapinduzi, and fuelled the emergence of ethnic and religious tensions in the country. Within the context of the current debate on democratization in Sub-Saharan Africa, the paper raises important questions on the relationship between poverty and democracy in Tanzania and the future of democracy in the country.