Tanzania’s Missing Opposition

Issue Date October 2009
Volume 20
Issue 4
Page Numbers 123-136
file Print
arrow-down-thin Download from Project MUSE
external View Citation

Why do opposition parties in Tanzania remain chronically weak a decade and a half after the country’s democratic transition? Part of the absence of a vigorous political opposition is the result of little demand for it and its uninspiring leadership. This argument views the ruling CCM as a relatively benign hegemon acceptable to the vast majority of Tanzanians. Although this argument is based on a significant amount of truth, the main reason opposition parties remain weak is because the CCM suppresses those who contest its near-monopoly of power, including resorting to coercion when other methods of containing the opposition fail.

About the Authors

Barak Hoffman

Barak Hoffman is the executive director of the Center for Democracy and Civil Society at Georgetown University.

View all work by Barak Hoffman

Lindsay Robinson

Lindsay Robinson is a master’s student at Georgetown University in the Department of Government’s Democracy and Governance program.

View all work by Lindsay Robinson