Ethnicism, Fragmentation, Patronage and Political Instability in Post-Colonial Uganda, 1962-2022

Abstract

The East African country, Uganda is recognised as a very strategic country in that subregion. However, its political situation has always been a source of worry. Since its political independence from Britain in 1960, its political atmosphere has been a tumultuous one; from forceful overthrow of sitting governments to life president syndrome, garnished with regular revolts in various parts of the country. This paper has tried to locate the sources of the political instability. It applied the critical method of history, based on inductive and deductive approaches. The paper is organized thematically and chronologically, and presented in the classical narrative style of history. Anchoring the research on Rational Choice theory, the findings located the sources of the crises in the lingering widespread ethnicism coupled with politically motivated fragmentations and patronage being employed the government.