The military in Uganda’s political space : 1962-2021

Abstract

This study examined the role of the military in shaping Uganda’s political space from 1962 to 2021. Since independence, Uganda has faced ongoing theoretical and practical disagreements about the role of the military in politics. Early scholars like Huntington painted a positive theoretical picture of an independent, professional, and apolitical military. However, in Uganda, this resulted in frequent coups and overthrows of civilian governments. Therefore, this necessitates theoretical and empirical repositioning of the military role in politics in Uganda. Specifically, the study explored the nature of political space; the evolution of the military; and assessed the implications of military participation in the political space as well as strategies for strengthening civil-military relations in Uganda. The study utilized a qualitative approach with a historical research design. It employed documentary reviews, interviews, and archival research as data collection methods. The data was analyzed using content, thematic, interpreting, and reporting methods. In addition, the study was guided by the Concordance theory, which promotes military collaboration with political actors and partially debunked Huntington's Traditional control theory, which advocates for the separation of the military from politics. The study established that the military played a key role in Uganda’s politics through power acquisition, control, retention, sustenance, and transition. It also found out that in Uganda’s pre-colonial decentralized and segmentary states the military was intertwined with politics, whereas during the colonial period, it played an important role in expanding and administering colonial territories. During the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, attempts to separate the military from politics led to coups and counter-coups, with the military dominating power transitions across regimes. Evidence also shows that Uganda has never experienced a peaceful government change or power transfer from one political leader to another. However, there has been an evolution of the military in terms of regionalized recruitment, discipline, education, promotions and deployment in various sectors including the political space. This has been critical in deconstructing the colonial theorization of the apolitical military. The study significantly restored historical awareness of the military role in politics and decolonized Eurocentric theories addressing issues in Ugandan contexts. The study concludes that the military and civilian authorities are so fused that the distinction between political elites and the military is blurry. It therefore recommends that the military should collaborate and work together with the political elites and civilians, as the best antidote to political instability.