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- Description:
- The debate on the form and content of Tanzania's constitution and democracy has been on the agenda throughout the four decades of independence. In the recent process of transition since the 1990s, a series of political reforms such as introducing multi-partyism have been undertaken with the view of widening the space for democracy. This paper addresses several problems surrounding this transition. It argues that democratization is much more than the introduction of multiparty politics and debates the various components of the constitution that are an obstacle to popular participation including the monopoly of political parties in politics. The main stay of democracy is for the people to have a say and power in their own lives and not to depend on the power of political parties.
- Date Issued:
- 2002-12-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Date Issued:
- 1996-12-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Description:
- This article traces the evolution of corruption as a political issue in Tanzania and evaluates the efforts of the Mkapa administration to control it. Corruptionis conceptualized as embedded in societal, economic and power relations. However, many of the anti-corruption efforts are part of liberal reforms that are based on the assumption that corruption is an individual act or personal misuse of public office for private gain. These liberal reforms are, at best, of limited value because they fail to take into account much of the dynamics that support corruption in Tanzania. While the Mkapa administration has taken partially successful steps to control corruption, these efforts have not fundamentally undermined the supporting environment for corruption in the country.
- Date Issued:
- 2002-06-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Description:
- Economic and political liberation in Africa has affected fragile national identities constructed over the past thirty or so years. This has led to the reconstruction of different identities and contestations affecting the legitimacy of government institutions in mediating conflict over the distribution of scarce resources. Using Tanzania as a case study, this article examines the relevance of multi-culturalism as a solution to the contest between sub-national identities mobilized by the current economic and political reforms.
- Date Issued:
- 2001-06-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Description:
- The death of Julius Nyerere in 1999 has renewed interest in the history of the socialist experiment in Tanzania and its relevance for the future of the developmetalist project in Africa. Positions on the issue have been polarized, with some commentaries based on reasoned, empirical research and analysis and others, essentially speculative, assuming a pattern that has been described as "African bashing". This article explores Nyerere's philosophy of Ujamaa as an attempt to integrate traditional African values with the demands of the post-colonial setting. As a philosophy, the central objective of Ujamaa was the attainment of a self-reliant socialist nation. The fact that its achievements were rather qualified was no doubt partly due to its inadequate appreciation of the Tanzanian reality, and the fact that it was more Utopian than practical. But this is not to deny the legitimate intentions and aspirations that informed Ujamaa as a development strategy. Implementation was a major challenge. However, in assessing how well it fared as policy, Ujamaa has to be placed side by side with comparative schemes, or alternative developments models, including the IMF/World Bank sponsored structural adjustment programmes. Given the current developmental challenges in Africa, there is need to go beyond "Africa bashing" to constructively interrogate previous developmental experiments like Nyerere's Ujamaa and ask what lessons they hold for the quest for socio-economic development in the continent.
- Date Issued:
- 2003-06-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science