Hegemonic presidencies in Sub-Saharan Africa: the cases of Zimbabwe and Rwanda

LusoGlobe Research in Charge

Teresa Nogueira Pinto

End

Abstract

The world is going through a moment of democratic regression characterized by increasing resistance to democratization and the emergence of new forms of authoritarianism. However, even in non-democratic contexts, power legitimation remains relevant: since regimes cannot rely on repression and coercion alone, incumbents need to generate some level of consent. This research proposes a model of analysis to contribute to the understanding of the legitimation strategies developed by personalized, semi-authoritarian and resilient regimes in Sub-Saharan Africa through a comparison between two case studies: the regime led by Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe (1980-2017) and the regime led by Paul Kagame in Rwanda (1994-2017). Because legitimation is a multidimensional concept, the model of analysis proposed is based on five distinct domains corresponding to sites where strategies and narratives of power justification are constructed and challenged: History and historiography; constitution, legal framework, and institutional architecture; economic and developmental performance; the state-civil society relation and the regime’s positioning in the regional and international spheres.

Researchers

Teresa Nogueira Pinto

Associated Missions

Teresa Nogueira Pinto

Outputs

There is a high prevalence of personalized, semi-authoritarian and resilient leaderships in Sub-Saharan Africa. These leaderships also need to generate a minimum of consent to secure power. Considering this, the aim of this research is to contribute to the understanding of the strategies and narratives of power legitimation used by these regimes and their leaders to justify their permanence in power. This aim will be pursued through the in-depth analysis of two case studies.