Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T04:34:39.240Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The politics of continuity and collusion in Zanzibar: political reconciliation and the establishment of the Government of National Unity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2018

Sterling Roop ,
Kjetil Tronvoll  and
Nicodemus Minde
Sterling Roop*
Affiliation:
P.O. Box 3981 Telluride, CO 81435, USA
Kjetil Tronvoll*
Affiliation:
Bjørknes University College, Lovisenberg gt. 13, 0456 Oslo, Norway
Nicodemus Minde*
Affiliation:
United States International University – Africa, P.O. Box 14636–00800, Nairobi, Kenya
*
Email: [email protected]
Email: [email protected]
Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The popularity of unity governments to settle both internal political divisions and outright conflict has grown in the last 20 years. However, more often than not unity governments fail to mitigate the political dynamics baked into the political economies and suffer from being insufficiently anchored in local society. The Government of National Unity (GNU) in Zanzibar, formed in 2010 as the culmination of the ‘maridhiano’ political reconciliation process and following numerous attempts at reconciliation led to initial successes, is a case in point. Zanzibar's GNU turned out to be ‘position’ rather than ‘power’ sharing, constitutionalised through a hybrid format of the politics of continuity and collusion. As such the position sharing system broke down when voters in the 2015 election sought neither continuity nor collusion, but transformational change of governance. This was in turn blocked by veto actors in favour of continuity, resulting in the collapse and discontinuation of the GNU in Zanzibar.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 56 , Issue 2 , June 2018 , pp. 245 - 267
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

This article was written as part of a project on Zanzibar's political history supported by the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Dar es Salaam. The authors of this article are solely responsible for its contents. The Embassy does not assume any responsibility for any omissions, errors or inaccuracies that may occur in this article. Nor does the Embassy necessarily concur with the analysis, assessment or opinions expressed in this article.

References

REFERENCES

Bakari, M. & Makulilo, A.. 2012. ‘Beyond polarity in Zanzibar? The ‘silent’ referendum and the government of national unity’, Journal of Contemporary African Studies 30, 2: 195–218.Google Scholar
Bormann, N.C., Cederman, L.E., Gates, S., Graham, B.A., Hug, S., Strom, K. & Wucherpfennig, J.. 2014. ‘Does formal or informal power sharing produce peace?’, ms.Google Scholar
Burgess, G.T., Issa, A.S. & Hamad, S.S.. 2009. Race, Revolution, and the Struggle for Human Rights in Zanzibar: the memoirs of Ali Sultan Issa and Seif Sharif Hamad. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press.Google Scholar
Cameron, G. 2002. ‘Zanzibar's turbulent transition’, Review of African Political Economy 29, 92: 313–30.Google Scholar
Cheeseman, N. 2011. ‘The internal dynamics of power-sharing in Africa’, Democratization 18, 2: 336–65.Google Scholar
Cheeseman, N. & Tendi, B.M.. 2010. ‘Power-sharing in comparative perspective: the dynamics of ‘unity government’ in Kenya and Zimbabwe’, Journal of Modern African Studies 48, 2: 203–29.Google Scholar
Common Wealth Observer Group. 2015. ‘International observers express concern about situation in Zanzibar’ [Press Release]. <http://thecommonwealth.org/media/news/international-observers-express-concern-situation-zanzibar>, accessed 18.4.2016.,+accessed+18.4.2016.>Google Scholar
EU Election Observation Mission. 2015. Preliminary Statement. <http://www.eueom.eu/files/pressreleases/english/Prelimstatementfinal_en.pdf>, accessed 19 April 2016.,+accessed+19+April+2016.>Google Scholar
Government of the United Republic of Tanzania (GURT). 2005. Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania 1977. 2005 edition, official English version.Google Scholar
Human Rights Watch. 2002a. ‘The bullets were raining: the January 2001 attack on peaceful demonstrators in Zanzibar’, Human Rights Watch Report 14, 3. <https://www.hrw.org/reports/2002/tanzania/>>Google Scholar
Human Rights Watch. 2002b. ‘Tanzania: Zanzibar election massacres documented’, 10 April. <http://www.hrw.org/new-filter/125>..>Google Scholar
International Foundation for Electoral Systems. 1995. Republic in transition: 1995 elections in Tanzania and Zanzibar. <http://www.ifes.org/publications/republic-transition-1995-elections-tanzania-and-zanzibar-ifes-observation-report>..>Google Scholar
International Law and Policy Institute (ILPI). 2009a. Election Observer report 2 July for the Royal Norwegian Embassy.Google Scholar
International Law and Policy Institute (ILPI). 2009b. Election Observer report 3 July 2009 for the Royal Norwegian Embassy.Google Scholar
International Law and Policy Institute (ILPI). 2009c. Election Observer report 4 August 2009 for the Royal Norwegian Embassy.Google Scholar
International Law and Policy Institute (ILPI). 2010. The Process of Voter Registration in Zanzibar: observations and assessments. Report submitted to the Zanzibar Electoral Commission, June.Google Scholar
Jube, F. 2008. ‘Pinda rejects talk of Zanzibar sovereignty’, 11 July. The Citizen, Dar es Salaam.Google Scholar
Killian, B. 2008. ‘The state and identity politics in Zanzibar: challenges to democratic consolidation in Tanzania’, African Identities 6, 2: 99–125.Google Scholar
Le Van, A. 2011. ‘Power sharing and inclusive politics in Africa's uncertain democracies’, Governance 24, 1: 31–53.Google Scholar
Luhwago, R. 2013. ‘I am one in-charge in Zanzibar –Shein’, 16 November. The Guardian, Dar es Salaam.Google Scholar
Makulilo, A.B. 2012. The fallacy of de facto independent candidacy in Tanzania: a rejoinder. Central European University (CEU) – Department of Political Science.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Matheson, A. 2012. Maridhiano: Zanzibar's remarkable reconciliation and Government of National Unity. Journal of Eastern African Studies 6, 4: 591–612.Google Scholar
Mehler, A. 2013. ‘Consociationalism for weaklings, autocracy for muscle men? Determinants of constitutional reform in divided societies’, Civil Wars 15, suppl. 1: 21–43.Google Scholar
Moss, S.M. & Tronvoll, K.. 2015. ‘‘We are all Zanzibari!' Identity formation and political reconciliation in Zanzibar’, Journal of Eastern African Studies 9, 1: 91–109.Google Scholar
Peter, C.M. & Othman, H.. 2006. Zanzibar and the Union question, No. 4. Zanzibar Legal Services Centre.Google Scholar
Nassor, A.S. & Jose, J.. 2014. ‘Power-sharing in Zanzibar: from zero-sum politics to democratic consensus?’, Journal of Southern African Studies 40, 2: 247–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rawlence, B. 2005. ‘Briefing: the Zanzibar election’, African Affairs 104, 416: 515–23.Google Scholar
Roop, S. & Weghorst, K.. 2016. ‘The 2015 National Elections in Tanzania’, Electoral Studies 43: 190–4.Google Scholar
Sanani, M. 2013. ‘Prosecution tenders in Zanzibar court charge sheet for sunken MV Spice Islanders’ case’, 16 May. The Citizen, Dar es Salaam.Google Scholar
Shivji, I.G. 2008. Pan-Africanism or Pragmatism: Lessons of the Tanganyika-Zanzibar Union. African Books Collective.Google Scholar
Tronvoll, K. 2006. ‘Bridging divided identities – or an agency of political domination? Reassessing the future of the Tanzanian Union’, International Journal on Minority and Group Rights 13, 2/3: 223–41.Google Scholar
Zanzibar Revolutionary Government (ZRG). 2010a. ‘Katiba ya Zanzibar ya 1984, Toleo la 2010, Zanzibar, Mpiga chapa wa Serikali ya Zanzibar’.Google Scholar
Zanzibar Revolutionary Government (ZRG). 2010b. Zanzibar House of Representatives Hansard, 29.1.2010. Zanzibar House of Representatives.Google Scholar
Zanzibar Revolutionary Government (ZRG). 2012. Special Committee Report on issues raised in the 2011/2012 Budget Session, April. Zanzibar House of Representatives.Google Scholar
Zanzibar Revolutionary Government (ZRG). 2013. Zanzibar House of Representatives Ripoti Ya Kamati Teule Ya Baraza La Wawakilishi Iliyoundwa Kuchunguza Migogoro Ya Ardhi Zanzibar.Google Scholar