Paper short abstract:

This paper will analyse the contemporary reconfigurations of CCM's nationalism: built around the political langage of « peace and stability », this dominant national narrative has largely sustained the regime's authoritarian rule by maintaining its ability to shape the perceptions of the nation.

Paper long abstract:

Since the war against Uganda and the abandonment the socialist policies in the 70s-80s, the Tanzanian ruling elite has growingly relied on nationalism to justify its continuity in power. After the return to multipartism in 1992, the actors of the « de facto one-party State » (Makulilo 2006) have heavily mobilized the political langage (Martin 1998) of « peace and stability » whose words, images and arguments have remodeled Tanzanian nationalism in the post-socialist context (Fouéré 2011). This contemporary dominant national narrative has insisted on the necessity to protect national unity at all cost, against the centrifugal dynamics of racialism, tribalism and religious sectarianism but also of political pluralism.

Drawing from data collected for my PhD between 2013 and 2016, this paper will show how this political langage is performed in the Tanzanian political field and how it has been performed and has translated into legislation and practices that shape the imaginary of the nation. Secondly, it will evaluate the role of numerous non-political actors, such as mainstream religious leaders and intellectuals, who have been instrumental in its diffusion and legitimation. Finally, this paper will analyse how this political langage has been used by the ruling party CCM in a more general « politics of anxiety » to sustain its authoritarian governance. Despite some partially alternative narratives offered by the opposition, the CCM's continuity in power and its limited use of physical violence (in Tanzania mainland) can, indeed, largely be explained by its ability to shape perceptions of the nation.