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Konsten att ändra en konstitution och behålla sin dominans

Björklund Larsen, Gustav LU (2016) STVK02 20152
Department of Political Science
Abstract
The essay discusses the different responses to constitution changes during the summer/fall 2015, allowing a new term limit for the presidents in Rwanda and Burundi. By using theory on dominant party systems the text tries to explain this has resulted in a lost dominance in Burundi, while the RPF-dominance in Rwanda has prevailed. The essay is based on the logic of method of difference and uses process tracing to analyze 6 different factors that theories on dominant party systems list as important for sustaining party dominance. Through looking at how these have influenced the events around the constitution changes, the essay comes to the conclusion that the factor causing the difference is the parties’ different usage of historical events... (More)
The essay discusses the different responses to constitution changes during the summer/fall 2015, allowing a new term limit for the presidents in Rwanda and Burundi. By using theory on dominant party systems the text tries to explain this has resulted in a lost dominance in Burundi, while the RPF-dominance in Rwanda has prevailed. The essay is based on the logic of method of difference and uses process tracing to analyze 6 different factors that theories on dominant party systems list as important for sustaining party dominance. Through looking at how these have influenced the events around the constitution changes, the essay comes to the conclusion that the factor causing the difference is the parties’ different usage of historical events to increase their legitimacy. This has given the RPF in Rwanda the means to control the economy, constitution writing and appointment of power positions, effectively undermining opposition forces conditions to organize and gather support. In Burundi, the CNDD-FDD hasn’t been able to reproduce such legitimacy, leading to a weaker control of economy, state institutions and hence also appointment of power positions, which in return has led to a more diverse division of power, constituting a resource for political opposition. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Björklund Larsen, Gustav LU
supervisor
organization
course
STVK02 20152
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
Rwanda, Burundi, Dominanta partisystem, konstitutionsändringar, partisystem
language
Swedish
id
8514511
date added to LUP
2016-02-02 14:11:21
date last changed
2016-02-02 14:11:21
@misc{8514511,
  abstract     = {{The essay discusses the different responses to constitution changes during the summer/fall 2015, allowing a new term limit for the presidents in Rwanda and Burundi. By using theory on dominant party systems the text tries to explain this has resulted in a lost dominance in Burundi, while the RPF-dominance in Rwanda has prevailed. The essay is based on the logic of method of difference and uses process tracing to analyze 6 different factors that theories on dominant party systems list as important for sustaining party dominance. Through looking at how these have influenced the events around the constitution changes, the essay comes to the conclusion that the factor causing the difference is the parties’ different usage of historical events to increase their legitimacy. This has given the RPF in Rwanda the means to control the economy, constitution writing and appointment of power positions, effectively undermining opposition forces conditions to organize and gather support. In Burundi, the CNDD-FDD hasn’t been able to reproduce such legitimacy, leading to a weaker control of economy, state institutions and hence also appointment of power positions, which in return has led to a more diverse division of power, constituting a resource for political opposition.}},
  author       = {{Björklund Larsen, Gustav}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Konsten att ändra en konstitution och behålla sin dominans}},
  year         = {{2016}},
}