New Institutionalisms and the Resurgence of Traditional Authority in Sub-Saharan Africa: the Buganda Case Study

The last two decades have witnessed a ‘resurgence’ of pre-colonially rooted authorities and institutions in the politics of Sub-Saharan Africa. What were once thought to be irrelevant and unfavorable traditional institutions are now a principal dynamic in contemporary Africa’s governance and development. What factors can be attributed to this traditional resurgence across the continent? Using data collected from fieldwork in Uganda, three causal factors were identified. The social entrenchment of the traditional institution, a collective sense of disillusionment with the central state and the formulation of new, contextually-based ideas played primary causal roles in the resurgence of the Buganda Kingdom. Three new institutionalist approaches – historical, sociological and discursive institutionalism – were employed in the identification, analysis and explanation of these causal factors. Therefore, this research also took on a methodological effort to reconcile the differences between often competing new institutionalist approaches and to demonstrate how they may be complimentary to each other.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (MA)

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Political Science

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Graduate Studies

Year dc:date.issued

2013

Author dc:creator

• Machacek, Mark Jeffrey

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Ray, Donald

• General

Statement dc:rights

• University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.

Language dc:language.iso

eng

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/27093

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:ucalgary.scholaris.ca:11023/1092