Introduction

Abstract

This study is about Africa’s most disturbing political deficit, namely, the failure to restore legitimate authority in the postcolonial state. The phenomenon of collapsed or failed states can be traced back to the continent’s political legitimacy crisis. There is a growing consensus among scholars that the critical political issue in Africa has to do with the restoration of legitimate authority following the disintegration of credible claims to the exercise of power.1 Indeed in most African states the political situation is most grave during periods of transition because crises of legitimacy are often crises of change (Lipset 1984: 89). After two-and-a-half decades of political turmoil in Uganda, change was fundamentally rooted in the possibility and urgency of restoring legitimate authority and reconstructing a collapsed state. Shortly after 1986, Uganda embarked on what many felt was the best chance for reversing the politics of the past and entering a new political era.2 This book tells the story of what has happened since. It illuminates the complex challenges of establishing authoritative governance in Uganda following the end of the liberation battle (in 1986) by the National Resistance Army/Movement (NRA/M) led by President Yoweri Museveni.KeywordsCivil SocietyPolitical ElitePolitical LegitimacyColonial RuleDemocratic TransitionThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.