Low-capacity, nondemocratic regimes rely on military force against armed challengers
Evidence
The security situation improved, despite continued rebel activity in the northern Gulu district, and in the east around the town of Soroti. More than 50 “Holy Spirit” rebels died in clashes with government forces in northern Uganda early in April and some 370 in May; a number of Ugandan soldiers and civilians were also killed. The rebellion, formerly led by the warrior priestess Alice Lakwena, was now led by Joseph Kony, another mystic, and had degenerated into revenge killings motivated by clan rivalries. In July the army admitted responsibility for the deaths in eastern Uganda of 47 youths who suffocated in a railway wagon where, with some 200 other suspected rebels, they had been locked overnight. Amnesty International (AI) accused the army of human rights violations, but conceded that the gross violations perpetrated by previous regimes had ended. … Once again the news of Uganda’s contentious politics reveals an nondemocratic regime low—indeed, threatened—in capacity that regularly uses military force against its violence-wielding challengers. — Charles Tilly, Regimes and Repertoires, 388
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: Military seizure of power signals low regime capacity — Charles Tilly, Regimes and Repertoires, 385; Indiscriminate repression by weak militarized states breeds revolutionary movements.; Postwar civil wars cluster in high-capacity regimes with ungoverned zones and in low-capacity nondemocracies. — Charles Tilly, Regimes and Repertoires, 803 (+3 more)