Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T05:52:34.705Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Executive dominance and the politics of quota representation in Uganda*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 May 2012

Ragnhild L. Muriaas  and
Vibeke Wang
Ragnhild L. Muriaas*
Affiliation:
Department of Comparative Politics, University of Bergen, Christies gt. 15, N-5007 Bergen, Norway
Vibeke Wang*
Affiliation:
Department of Comparative Politics, University of Bergen, Christies gt. 15, N-5007 Bergen, Norway
*
Email: [email protected]
Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Quota policies securing the presence of marginalised groups in decision-making bodies have been adopted across sub-Saharan Africa. These policies are frequently understood through the lens of a pluralist perspective. This stance is not appropriate in African regimes characterised by executive dominance. Through a qualitative study of official documents, newspaper articles and interviews conducted during two field studies in Uganda in 2005 and 2010, this article shows how the understanding of quota policies in Africa may gain from the corporatist debate on interest representation. The analysis reveals that the incumbent National Resistance Movement has employed the reserved seat policy strategically to maintain its dominant position, and that strategies for using the quota system have evolved gradually over time in response to key political events, and the interests of group activists at the local and national levels with vested interests in its survival.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 50 , Issue 2 , June 2012 , pp. 309 - 338
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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

*

Many thanks to Einar Berntzen, Lise Rakner, Lars Svåsand, Kjetil Selvik and Morten Bøås for comments on earlier drafts of this paper. We would also like to thank the participants of the workshop on ‘Between democratic consolidation and hybrid regimes’, at the Nordic Political Science Congress 2011 and the two anonymous referees for their very helpful comments. The project received funding from The Research Council of Norway.

References

REFERENCES

African Elections Database. 2010. Available at: http://africanelections.tripod.com/, accessed 10.11.2010.Google Scholar
African Leadership Institute (AFLI). 2011. Parliamentary Scorecard 2009–2010: assessing the performance of Uganda's legislators. Kampala: AFLI.Google Scholar
Bainomugisha, A. & Mushemeza, E. D.. 2006. ‘Deepening democracy and enhancing sustainable livelihoods in Uganda’, Policy Research Series 13. Kampala: ACODE.Google Scholar
Bauer, G. 2008. ‘Fifty/fifty by 2020: electoral gender quotas for parliament in east and southern Africa’, International Feminist Journal of Politics 10, 3: 348–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bauer, G. & Britton, H. E.. 2006. ‘Women in African parliaments: a continental shift?’, in Bauer, G. & Britton, H. E., eds. Women in African Parliaments. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 1–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Byanyima, W. K. 1992. ‘Women in political struggle in Uganda’, in Bystydzienski, J. M., ed. Women Transforming Politics. Indianapolis, IN: Indiana University Press, 128–42.Google Scholar
Carbone, G. M. 2003. ‘Political parties in a “no-party democracy”’, Party Politics 9, 4: 485–501.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dahlerup, D. 2007. ‘Electoral gender quotas: between equality of opportunity and equality of result’, Representation 43, 2: 73–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dahlerup, D. 2008. ‘Gender quotas – controversial but trendy’, International Feminist Journal of Politics 10, 3: 322–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Daily Monitor. 2010. ‘Army and women want more MPs’, 30.10.2010, available at: http://mobile.monitor.co.ug/News/-/691252/1043008/-/format/xhtml/-/ls2sexz/-/index.html, accessed 17.12.2010.Google Scholar
Devlin, C. & Elgie, R.. 2008. ‘The effect of increased women's representation in parliament: the case of Rwanda’, Parliamentary Affairs 61, 2: 237–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Electoral Commission. 2010. The Electoral Commission Road Map for 2010–2011 General Elections. Kampala: Electoral Commission.Google Scholar
Forum for Democratic Change (FDC). 2009. IPC Proposals for Electoral Reform in Uganda. Kampala: FDC.Google Scholar
Goetz, A. M. 2002. ‘No shortcuts to power: constraints on women's political effectiveness in Uganda’, Journal of Modern African Studies 40, 4: 549–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goetz, A. M. 2003. ‘The problem with patronage: constraints on women's political effectiveness in Uganda’, in Goetz, A. M. & Hassim, S., eds. No Shortcuts to Power: African women in politics and policy making. London: Zed Books, 110–39.Google Scholar
Green, E. 2010. ‘Patronage, district creation, and reform in Uganda’, Studies in Comparative International Development 45, 1: 83–103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hanssen, K. N. 2005. ‘Towards multiparty system in Uganda: the effect on female representation in politics’, Working Paper 9. Bergen: CMI.Google Scholar
Htun, M. 2004. ‘Is gender like ethnicity? The political representation of identity groups’, Perspectives on Politics 2, 3: 439–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Independent. 2010. ‘NRM fears trouble in 2011 after primaries’, 22.9.2010, available at: www.independent.co.ug/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3460:nrm-fears-trouble-in-2011-after-primaries&catid=82:cover-story&Itemid=197, accessed 12.2.2011.Google Scholar
Kabwegyere, T. B. 2000. ‘Civil society and the democratic transition in Uganda since 1986’, in Mugaju, J. & Oloka-Onyango, J., eds. No-Party Democracy in Uganda: myths and realities. Kampala: Fountain Publishers, 95–108.Google Scholar
Kangere, M. 2003. ‘Development in disability: the Uganda experience’, unpublished paper presented at expert meeting on ‘Inclusion of disability in Dutch development co-operation policy and practice’, The Hague, 16.9.2003.Google Scholar
Krook, M. L. & O'Brien, D. 2010. ‘The politics of group representation: quotas for women and minorities worldwide’, Comparative Politics 42, 3: 253–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levitsky, S. & Way, L. A. 2010. ‘Why democracy needs a level playing field’, Journal of Democracy 21, 1: 57–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mansbridge, J. 1999. ‘Should blacks represent blacks and women represent women? A contingent “yes”’, The Journal of Politics 61, 3: 628–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Matembe, M. 2002. Gender, Politics and Constitution Making in Uganda. Kampala: Fountain Publishers.Google Scholar
Matland, R. E. 2006. ‘Electoral quotas: frequency and effectiveness’, in Dahlerup, D., ed. Women, Quotas and Politics. New York: Routledge, 275–92.Google Scholar
Muriaas, R. L. 2008. ‘Affection and defection: local perspectives on the pull towards the government party in Malawi, South Africa and Uganda’, PhD thesis, University of Bergen.Google Scholar
Museveni, Y. K. 1997. Sowing the Mustard Seed: the struggle for freedom and democracy in Uganda. London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
New Vision. 2008. ‘Legislators trapped in their political parties’, 6.5.2008, available at: www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/12/632116, accessed 12.2.2011.Google Scholar
New Vision. 2010a. ‘EC warns on youth MPs elections’, 9.3.2010, available at: www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/13/712424, accessed 14.2.2011.Google Scholar
New Vision. 2010b. ‘Love affair between NRM and Ugandan women hot as ever’, 15.11.2010, available at: www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/20/738325, accessed 15.1.2011.Google Scholar
O'Brien, D. Z. ‘Under-qualified or over-prepared? Assessing the qualifications of “quota women” in the Ugandan Parliament’, paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Science Association, Toronto, 3–6.9.2009.Google Scholar
Observer. 2010a. ‘Youth have now been empowered’, 14.7.2010, available at: http://allafrica.com/stories/printable/201007150422.html, accessed 15.11.2010.Google Scholar
Observer. 2010b. ‘Parliament votes to retain army MPs’, 14.11.2010, available at: www.observer.ug/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10916&Itemid=59, accessed 20.11.2010.Google Scholar
Odoki, B. J. 2005. The Search for a National Consensus: the making of the 1995 Uganda Constitution. Kampala: Fountain Publishers.Google Scholar
Oloka-Onyango, J. 2000. ‘“New wine or new bottles?” Movement politics and one-partyism in Uganda’, in Mugaju, J. & Oloka-Onyango, J., eds. No-Party Democracy in Uganda: myths and realities. Kampala: Fountain Publishers, 40–59.Google Scholar
Pankhurst, D. 2002. ‘Women and politics in Africa: the case of Uganda’, in Ross, K., ed. Women, Politics, and Change. Oxford University Press, 119–28.Google Scholar
Parliament of Uganda Website. 2010. Available at: http://www.parliament.go.ug/, accessed 25.10.2011.Google Scholar
Philips, A. 1995. The Politics of Presence. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Pitkin, H. F. 1967. The Concept of Representation. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prempeh, H. K. 2008. ‘Progress and retreat in Africa: presidents untamed’, Journal of Democracy 19, 2: 109–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rakner, L. & van de Walle, N.. 2009. ‘Opposition weakness in Africa’, Journal of Democracy 20, 3: 108–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Republic of Uganda. 1995. Constitution of the Republic of Uganda. Kampala: Uganda Printing and Publishing Corporation.Google Scholar
Rubongoya, J. B. 2007. Regime Hegemony in Museveni's Uganda. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ssali, S. & Atoo, C.. 2008. ‘Gender and women's participation in the 2006 multiparty elections in Uganda’, in Kiiza, J., Makara, S. & Rakner, L., eds. Electoral Democracy in Uganda. Kampala: Fountain Publishers, 150–74.Google Scholar
Tamale, S. 1999. When Hens Begin to Crow: gender and parliamentary politics in Uganda. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Tripp, A. M. 2000. Women and Politics in Uganda. Oxford: James Currey.Google Scholar
Tripp, A. M. 2004. ‘Women's movements, customary law, and land rights in Africa: the case of Uganda’, African Studies Quarterly 7, 4: 7–19.Google Scholar
Tripp, A. M. 2006. ‘Uganda: agents of change for women's advancement?’, in Bauer, G. & Britton, H. E., eds. Women in African Parliaments. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 111–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tripp, A. M. 2010. Museveni's Uganda: paradoxes of power in a hybrid regime. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tripp, A. M., Casimiro, I., Kwesiga, J. & Mungwa, A.. 2009. African Women's Movements. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Tripp, A. M. & Kang, A.. 2008. ‘The global impact of quotas: on the fast track to increased female legislative representation’, Comparative Political Studies 41, 3: 338–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tukahebwa, G. B. 2003. ‘The legal and institutional framework of the 1996 presidential and parliamentary elections in Uganda’, in Makara, S., Tukahebwa, G. B. and Byarugaba, F. E., eds. Voting for Democracy in Uganda. Kampala: LDC Publishers, 33–55.Google Scholar
Williamson, P. J. 1989. Corporatism in Perspective: an introductory guide to corporatist theory. London: SAGE Publications.Google Scholar
Young, I. M. 2000. Inclusion and Democracy. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar

Newspapers (all published in Kampala) and websites

AllAfrica (http://allafrica.com); Daily Monitor; Independent; New Vision; Observer.

Interviews

Alaso, Alice, district seat representative, Parliament, Forum for Democratic Change, Kampala, 9.4.2010.

Amongi, Betty Omgom, district seat representative, Parliament, Independent, Kampala, 16.3.2010.

Atim-Ogwal, Cecilia, district seat representative, Parliament, Independent, Kampala, 12.3.2010.

Bako, Christine, district seat representative, Parliament, Forum for Democratic Change, Kampala, 29.3.2010.

Baregire, Jova, Mbarara district assembly, woman representative, Mbarara, 19.9.2005.

Kabusimbi, Gertrude Kenyangi, Mbarara district assembly, representative of Nyakayojo constituency, Nyakayojo, 25.9.2005.

Kadaga, Rebecca, Deputy Speaker of Parliament, district seat representative, National Resistance Movement, Kampala, 5.5.2010.

Kadala, Muhammed, Luwero district assembly, male representative of the disabled, Luwero, 20.10.2005

Kamaali, Sibira David, Kamuli district office, information officer, Kamuli, 31.10.2005.

Kashaija, Florence, Mbarara district assembly, woman representative, Mbarara, 21.9.2005.

Kashner, Heather, Senior Country Representative, National Democratic Institute, Kampala 10.5.2010.

Kyomugisha, Grace, army representative, Parliament, Kampala, 27.5.2010.

Lagada, Beatrice Amongi, district seat representative, Parliament, National Resistance Movement, Kampala, 1.4.2010.

Lubwama, Parsis, Luwero town council, woman representative, Luwero, 21.10.2005.

Lukwago, Rebecca Nalwanga, district seat representative, Parliament, Independent, Kampala, 27.5.2010.

Mukoza, Kirunda, Luwero town council, male representative of the disabled, Luwero, 21.10.2005.

Mwesige-Assimwe, Jacqueline, independent gender and legal consultant, Kampala, 25.5.2010.

Nalule, Safia Juuko, persons with disability representative, Parliament, National Resistance Movement, Kampala, 15.3.2010.

Namansa, Proscovia, Luwero district assembly, woman representative, Luwero, 11.10.2005.

Namiiro, Christine, Bamunanika sub-county assembly (Luwero), woman representative, Bamunanika, 13.10.2005.

Nampijja, Susan, directly elected representative, Parliament, Conservative Party, Kampala, 24.3.2010.

Nassozi, Margaret, Luwero district assembly, woman youth representative, Luwero, 18.10.2005.

Okumu, Ronald Reagan, directly elected representative, Parliament, Forum for Democratic Change, Kampala, 15.3.2010.

Osborn, Simon, Manager, Deepening Democracy Programme, Kampala, 14.4.2010.

Rukare, Donald, Manager, EUs Human Rights and Good Governance Programme, Kampala, 26.4.2010.

Rwakimari, Beatrice, district seat representative, Parliament, National Resistance Movement, Kampala, 8.4.2010.

Sempagama, Musa, Luwero town council, male youth representative, Luwero, 21.10.2005.

Tumwesigye, Felly, Mbarara district assembly, woman representative, Mbarara, 20.9.2005.

Tumwine, Elly, army representative, Kampala, 27.5.2010.

Turinawe, Ingrid, leader of Women's League, Inter-Party Cooperation, Forum for Democratic Change, Kampala, 28.4.2010.

Turyahikayo, Paula, directly elected representative, Parliament, National Resistance Movement, Kampala, 24.3.2010.