Nicodemus Minde is a PhD student in international relations at the United States International University–Africa (USIU-Africa) in Nairobi, Kenya. He previously worked as an advisor at International Law and Policy (ILPI) Centre for African Studies, Norway. He holds a MA and BA in international relations from USIU-Africa. His doctoral research examines the influence of one-party dominance in African democracies with a specific focus on the challenge of democratizing the Tanganyika-Zanzibar Union under a one-party dominance system. Minde’s areas of interest include the political history of Tanzania, international law, foreign policy analysis and peace and conflict studies. Minde, a Tanzanian national, has conducted research on the reconciliation process in Zanzibar, the ICC and Africa, and peacebuilding and state-building in rentier economies of the global South. He is also a 2013 African Peacebuilding Network (APN) alumnus.
Award Information
The political Union between Tanganyika and Zanzibar remains a unique Pan-African construct. For over fifty years, challenges and macrocosms of discontents have characterized the Union. The Union has been Tanzania's pride – and an important national symbol. Despite this longevity, there have been discontents from either side of the Union particularly on the issue of Zanzibar's waning sovereignty within the Union framework. Tanzania has been ruled by one single party since the inception of the Union in 1964. Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party is a merger of Tanganyika's independence party TANU and Zanzibar's revolutionary party the Afro-Shirazi Party (ASP). CCM party has continuously championed the course of the Union through a two-government format (Government of the United Republic of Tanzania and the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar). The party's two-government position is seen as a means for continued stay in power. Earlier efforts for democracy in Tanzania went hand in hand with demands for a redress of the structure of the Union especially from the opposition who argued for a three-government structure. For long, research on the Union has failed to capture the interests of political parties in the Union. This study seeks to examine the constitutional efforts that were aimed at redressing the dissatisfactions of the Union by situating the positions of political parties both in Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar. The study seeks to examine the interests of political parties in the Union through extensive fieldwork in Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar.
