Fifteen Years After Decentralization by Devolution: Political‐administrative Relations in Tanzanian Local Government

One of the professed goals of the 1998 Tanzanian Local Government Reform Program, entailing substantial decentralization, was to provide for a democratic administrative set up in local government. Elected local councils were invested with responsibilities for a wide range of policy sectors and services; the local administrative staff, formerly recruited and instructed by central government, would be appointed by and accountable to the local councils. A well‐functioning local politico‐administrative system was considered paramount to improve service delivery and ensure control of decision making by the local community. This article reports on research into the relations between councilors and administrators in two Tanzanian municipalities. Overall, these relations were found to be tense and full of discordance, caused by clashing role perceptions and mutual distrust. The research suggests that the main factor underlying the behavior and attitudes of councilors and administrators is the very system of public administration, which — despite the ambitions expressed in the Local Government Reform Program — remains very centralistic in character. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Can charity and rights-based movements be allies in the fight against HIV/AIDS? Bridging mobilisations in the United States and sub-Saharan Africa

The activist-fuelled responses to HIV/AIDS around the world have resulted in unprecedented changes to the way infectious disease is defined and treated and in the mobilisation of resources for treatment in developing countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. However, the communities that have been critical sources of response are widely divergent. In the United States, where the epidemic was first identified, the strongest response was within the gay community, with its attendant rights-based orientation. In sub-Saharan Africa, faith-based communities have been critical actors, and have generally taken a charity-based approach to their work. As globalisation and the successes of the global AIDS movement draw these groups into closer contact, the question of whether these divergent approaches can work in alliance becomes ever more important. In this paper I use the concepts of collective identity and framing to examine the development of both approaches and to suggest that the activity of frame extension may be a helpful tool in bridging divergent approaches.     

Historical legacies,clientelism and the capacity to fight: exploring pathways to regime tenure in Tanzania

While regimes in countries like Cameroon, Guinea, Togo and Tanzania have survived the transition from single to multiparty rule, this article suggests two unique characteristics for the case of regime tenure in Tanzania. First, while transitions in other cases were characterized by widespread protests and/or popular opposition movements, opposition in Tanzania's transition environment was minuscule by comparison. Secondly, while repression is still widespread in Tanzania, overt repression appears to be less prevalent in Tanzania when compared to most other strong tenure cases. This study first explores the comparative role of overt repression as a viable explanation for the strong tenure of the Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM). Upon closer examination, however, the article argues that accounting for the structures and processes that shape the capacities of political actors to engage in political battles might provide for a more complete appreciation of the CCM's ability to remain the country's dominant political actor, despite the multiparty transition.     

Tourism and the politics of the global land grab in Tanzania: markets,appropriation and recognition

This paper examines how tourism as a form of land use and economic development is a critical site of struggle over the meaning of neoliberalism, landscape and land rights in northern Tanzania. I examine two tourism arrangements in Loliondo: joint ventures between expatriate-owned ecotourism companies and predominately Maasai villages; and the leasing of a hunting concession on village lands by the central government to a powerful foreign investor from the United Arab Emirates. Despite the fundamental role of foreign investors in appropriating resources and surplus value from regional landscapes in each of these cases, I argue that the Maasai in Loliondo see contemporary land grabbing as firmly situated in state claims to property and territory. The Maasai in Loliondo have come to think of the market, expressed through their direct relationships with ecotourism investors, as the most promising space to legitimize and secure land rights and access to resources. Loliondo, an area in northern Tanzania bordering the Serengeti National Park and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, has become one of the most important sites for tourism development in Tanzania. This region is home to the iconic Maasai people, who practice pastoralism and are part of what attracts tourists to Tanzania. These Maasai face increased pressure to assert their local vision of a landscape and their ability to commoditize it. I situate current land struggles within the political economy of tourism in Loliondo and show how different articulations of market–state–community become both materially and symbolically meaningful. Ultimately, I argue that the Maasai retain faith in market-based relationships in spite of increasingly limited room to maneuver.     

La présence turque en Côte d’Ivoire contemporaine: entreprise transnationale au service de l’éducation,l’humanitaire et l’islam en Afrique de l’ouest

Many Tanzanians share a basic understanding of the occult as a moving force in the visible world. But at the same time, notions of the occult are characterised by indeterminacies in meaning, thereby allowing for multiple interpretations of particular events. This article explores various readings of two particular incidents that both occurred within a suburb of the city of Iringa in South-central Tanzania. First a Lutheran pastor started suffering from a paralyzed shoulder and a few weeks later an old woman was found lying naked outside of his home in the middle of the night. While both incidents were widely ascribed to witchcraft the article shows how particular interpretations were embedded in and reflective of a dense social climate, characterised by different kinds of tension, inequalities, suspicions of corruption and by religious and medical pluralism and competition. The article argues that the very opaqueness and uncertainty of witchcraft knowledge enabled a variety of actors with different stakes to make claims to truth, spiritual status and moral identity.     

Entrepreneurs,investors and the state: the public and the private in sub-Saharan African irrigation development

This article draws on ethnographic research in Tanzania to interrogate the discourse of ‘public’ and ‘private’ in sub-Saharan irrigation development. It contrasts the complexity of social and political relations with narratives suggesting that ‘private’ is necessarily opposed and superior to ‘public’. We argue that support for models of private-sector development obscures access to and control over resources and can result in the dispossession of those least able to resist this. Different interests of ‘entrepreneurial’ individuals and corporate investors and the ways in which these relate to the state are also glossed over. Conversely, the failure of the ‘public’ cannot simply be read from the chequered histories of irrigation schemes within which public and private interests intersect in complex ways.     

FROM DONORSHIP TO OWNERSHIP? BUDGET SUPPORT AND DONOR INFLUENCE IN RWANDA AND TANZANIA

In this article, I analyze the relationship between budget support and ownership, or recipient‐country control over policy outcomes, by exploring how budget support donors in Rwanda and Tanzania attempt to exert influence over domestic policy processes. In contrast to the conventional rhetoric about budget support, my empirical analysis finds little evidence that budget support decreases the influence that donors try to exert over recipient‐country governments. Instead, semi‐structured interviews with donor and government representatives in each country suggest that the aid modality is often used as a tool by which donors attempt to increase their leverage over domestic decision‐making. In particular, I identify three mechanisms frequently used by budget support donors to influence domestic policy processes: voice amplification, a seat at the table, and a license to ask questions. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Why the CCM won't lose: the roots of single-party dominance in Tanzania

This paper provides an empirical investigation of the factors contributing to single-party dominance in Tanzania. Despite the fact that Tanzania has had a multi-party democracy since 1995, the party which governed during single-party rule, the Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), has won the vast majority of seats in the National Assembly in the first four multi-party elections. In order to understand the CCM's grip on power, this article analyses the results of a survey conducted amongst subsistence farmers in Tanzania, which provides information on farmers’ livelihood conditions, access to media and political views, and hence provides insight into the preferences underlying voting behaviour. It discusses the dominant reasons for CCM support, as well as the characteristics of farmers who are more likely to support an opposition party. It concludes by discussing possible policy options for enhancing political competition in Tanzania.     

Early Adopters of Solar Panels in Developing Countries: Evidence from Tanzania

Who pioneers the adoption of solar home systems as a source of power in developing countries? While many scholars of electrification praise off‐grid options, evidence on their adoption from nationally representative surveys is lacking. We test existing and new hypotheses using the 2007 Tanzanian National Household Budget Survey. Since the survey is nationally representative and has more than 10,000 respondent households, it is ideal for our purposes. We find modest support for the notion that wealthier households adopt more readily than poorer ones. Surprisingly, electrified households adopt solar home systems more readily than other households, suggesting that solar home systems provide backup power. We further find that larger households adopt more readily than smaller ones and that a rural location or high education levels do not predict solar power use. These findings suggest that new policies are needed to promote solar home systems in poor and rural areas, where their development effectiveness is maximal.     

The application of new public management doctrines in the developing world: An exploratory study of the autonomy and control of executive agencies in Tanzania

This article examines the agencification of public service in Tanzania. This is discussed with reference to the New Public Management (NPM)‐inspired reforms of which the creation of executive agencies is one of its core features. The article attempts to understand the extent to which executive agencies in Tanzania display characteristic features of an ideal‐agency model as propagated by the NPM reform doctrines. Key features of the ideal‐agency model have been described as structural disaggregation, autonomy and contractualisation. It questions views held by many NPM‐minded reformers, such as the EU and World Bank that this model is universally applicable and can be emulated in different parts of the world. The article's assumption is that the NPM‐agency model is based on a weak empirical foundation and its universal applicability is questionable. To illustrate our arguments we confront the NPM‐agency model with the empirical data drawn from the agencification of public services in Tanzania. Findings indicate that agencies in Tanzania display hybrid characteristics in terms of their autonomy and control. Our conclusion is that the universality of NPM‐agency model is illusive. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.