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Patronage, Repression, and Co-Optation: Bobi Wine and the Political Economy of Activist Musicians in Uganda
Patronage, Repression und Kooptation: Bobi Wine und die politische Ökonomie aktivistischer Musikerinnen und Musiker in Uganda
[journal article]
Abstract In recent decades, musicians have figured prominently on Africa’s political stage. Popular Ugandan musician Bobi Wine moved beyond protest singer and ventured into politics by entering parliament in 2017 and challenging long-term President Yoweri Museveni at the presidential polls in 2021. To push f... view more
In recent decades, musicians have figured prominently on Africa’s political stage. Popular Ugandan musician Bobi Wine moved beyond protest singer and ventured into politics by entering parliament in 2017 and challenging long-term President Yoweri Museveni at the presidential polls in 2021. To push for social change, Wine created the People Power movement and built an alliance with fellow musicians. This article studies Wine’s movement and his alliance with musicians by taking a political economy approach. I posit that the political activism of musicians reaches its limits when a sitting government can easily threaten the economic base of its oppositional challengers. Alliances become fragile once the government can demonstrate that challenging a ruling elite has severe consequences for one’s livelihood whereas aligning with the government ensures economic prosperity. The article uses ethnographic data, interviews, and newspaper articles to demonstrate this argument.... view less
Classification
Political Process, Elections, Political Sociology, Political Culture
Free Keywords
Uganda; Bobi Wine; activist musicians; co-optation and repression; fragility of alliances
Document language
English
Publication Year
2021
Page/Pages
p. 127-150
Journal
Africa Spectrum, 56 (2021) 2
ISSN
1868-6869
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed