Special Issue on Militarization, Governance, and Peace in Uganda

CRIC is proud to announce that PhD Candidate Mathilde Kaalund has contributed to this special issue with the article "Historicizing Uganda's Regional Military Interventions: Structuring A Region Of Warfare". The article along with the full journal can be downloaded for free here.

Foreword

The Human Rights and Peace Centre (HURIPEC) in collaboration with the Centre for Resolution of International Conflicts (CRIC) at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark undertook a research project titled Militarization, Sustainable Growth and Peace in Uganda (2019-2023). The overall goal of the project was to contribute to enhancing knowledge and understanding and to capacitate both Ugandan actors and international partners in contributing to the overarching United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) No. 16 on peace, justice, inclusive growth and strong Institutions, through an analysis of militarization in the Ugandan society. The project thus sought to examine the nature and extent of militarization in Uganda in key sectors and institutions and analyse the ways this process impacts central development agendas, peace, gender and the rule of law.

This special issue of the East African Journal of Peace and Human Rights on Militarization, Governance and Peace in Uganda is one of many knowledge products on this collaborative project. The phenomenon of militarization has come to dominate key aspects of Ugandans’ economic, social, cultural and political life. However, discourse around it has been ad hoc or presented within generalized commentary. Where it has been researched and published, this has tended to be within a specific discipline, thereby excluding a diversity of perspectives on the subject.

However, as this collaborative research project has confirmed, militarization is a versatile concept and has been defined across various disciplines ranging from political science, law, sociology, anthropology, gender studies, and arts among others. The articles in this special issue are testament to this fact. Whereas the traditional publications of this journal have been based in law and legal analysis, it was necessary for HURIPEC to widen its range of engagement on a subject as critical and multifaceted as militarization. It was particularly important to do so given the current Ugandan context where the role and relevance of law are dissipating as the country’s politics increasingly rely on use of force and militarism.

We hope that the wealth and breadth of multidisciplinarity provided by this special issue can lead to deeper and more complex policy debates on the topic of militarization across disciplines, as well as inspire the necessary changes in Ugandan law and society.

Sylvie Namwase & Zahara Nampewo
(Co-editors)

*Note that an earlier version that had been published was recalled due to a technical omission. This is the final approved version.