Successful Challenges to Authoritarian Rule

Abstract

In the previous chapter, I argued that variation in the strength of opposition forces in Kenya and Uganda at the time of independence explains differences in the modes of authoritarian rule. In Uganda, Milton Obote planted the seeds of violence and his own removal from power shortly after political independence in the mid-1960s. After Obote was deposed from power by Idi Amin, the military dictatorship removed all constitutional limits to executive dominance and spread violence across the country. In contrast, Kenya emerged from political independence as a textbook version of patronage, with the establishment of strong clientelist networks radiating from the presidential center. While Kenyatta’s rule contained elements of overt repression, it mainly relied on co-opting dissent. After Kenyatta’s death in 1978, Daniel arap Moi continued to rule by positive integration, but increasingly resorted to repression against a strengthening political opposition.