Militarism and the Politics of Covid-19 Response in Uganda
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7260715 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Moses Khisa (0000-0002-1107-9370, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, USA, corresponding author), Sabastiano Rwengabo (0000-0002-3274-8916, Centre for Basic Research, Kampala, Uganda) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 50 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 1118-1149 |
| Publication date | 2023-04-17 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Armed Forces & Society (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0095-327X • E-ISSN: 1556-0848 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0095327x231162848 |
| OpenAlex | W4366213866 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 8 |
| References cited | 58 |
Within the broader context of securitized responses to Covid-19 globally, Uganda experienced an oversized military role, ranging from law-and-order and lockdown enforcement, to managing food-relief supplies, medical operations, and partisan political repression. What explains this excessive militarization? To address this poser, the article draws on secondary sources and key-informant interviews to test the hypothesis that military involvement in pandemic responses depends on pre-pandemic militarism. The findings reveal direct links between pre-crisis militarism and Covid-19 responses, contrary to the view that exceptionality and novelty of Covid-19 informed overly militarized responses. Through pandemic framing and institutional morphing, pre-pandemic militarism foregrounded military roles because Covid-19 provided Uganda’s ruling elites with a public health pretext to heighten militaristic rule, clutch the political arena in the context of elections, and deepen military presence in civilian public health realms. This excessive militarization of public health seriously impacts civil–military relations, specifically command and control, reporting and accountability, and resources management
Context (archaeology · Criminology · Development economics · Economics · Geography · Militarism · Militarization · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Preparedness · Sociology · Global Security and Public Health · Health and Conflict Studies · Law · Public Administration · Viral Infections and Outbreaks Research
Security sector reform in Uganda
Making sense of the state amid the uncertainty of the Covid-19 pandemic in Kampala, Uganda
Non-essential? Covid-19 disruption to teachers’ economic citizenship in low-cost private schools in Kampala City
Interplay of institutional logics in legitimising state Covid-19 responses in Tanzania
Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of Armed Forces & Society
Controlling consent, dealing with dissent, and planting misinformation
Contemporary responses in Africa to the aftermath of death
Multidimensional Measures of Militarization (M 3)
Human Security and Global Health
The Metaphor of War in Political Discourse on Covid-19 in Uganda
Reconciling model predictions with low reported cases of Covid-19 in Sub-Saharan Africa
Content Moderation Technologies
Ebola in the context of conflict affected states and health systems
Crisis management in authoritarian regimes
Uganda's HIV Prevention Success
Gendered securitisation
Human security
Predators or Protectors? Military Corruption as a Pillar of Regime Survival in Uganda
Africa’s security landscape of securitised-development and human rights issues
Tracing and explaining securitization
Can securitization theory be used in normative analysis? Towards a just securitization theory
Agents without agency
Varieties of militarism
The role of culture on 2020 Sars-CoV-2 Country deaths
Security and the problem of context
Critical human security studies
The securitisation of avian influenza
Military responses to Covid-19, emerging trends in global civil-military engagements
Opportunistic Repression
The Concept of Security
Uganda as a Role Model for Pandemic Containment in Africa
The Role of Case Study Research in Political Science
Case Studies
Securitisation across borders
Domestic Military Deployments in Response to Covid-19
Military Responses to the Covid-19 Pandemic Crisis in Latin America
The soldier and the state
Street-level Repression
Democracy, Autocracy, and Emergency Threats
The Armed Forces and Transitions from Authoritarian Rule
Epidemic Disease and National Security
Nomination Violence in Uganda’s National Resistance Movement
"National Security" as an Ambiguous Symbol
Rethinking Human Security
Militarized masculinity and the paradox of restraint
Fighting Flu
Regime Stability in Post-1986 Uganda
The Garrison State
The Deepening Politics of Fragmentation in Uganda
| Citations per year | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2024 - 2026 (3) |
| Highly cited | No |