Publication
Title
The limits of resistance ideologies? The CNDD-FDD and the legacies of governance in Burundi
Author
Abstract
Why is it that ruling parties with origins as rebel movements fighting against perceived injustices and exclusion often abandon the ideas and visions of state transformation that they had articulated when they were fighting? Using the case of the Conseil National pour la Defense de la Democratie-Forces pour la Defense de la Democratie (CNDD-FDD) in Burundi, this article shows that rather than experiencing an abrupt ideological change when the CNDD-FDD became a ruling party, there had always been ideological divergence within the movement. Over time, progressive ideas of inclusive state transformation were repeatedly sidelined in favour of a focus on resistance, and then state capture. Paradoxically, then, once it became a ruling party the CNDD-FDD reverted to governance practices that were akin to those that had led it to take up arms in the first place. This is not because of an absence of commitment to progressive ideas among some CNDD-FDD members, but because the internal dynamics of the CNDD-FDD meant that those factions relying on power politics eventually gained the upper hand over those that articulated a more progressive, inclusive vision, due in part to their ability to back their ideas with force.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Government and opposition: a quarterly international journal of comparative politics. - London
Publication
London : 2019
ISSN
0017-257X
DOI
10.1017/GOV.2019.2
Volume/pages
54 :3 (2019) , p. 559-583
Article Reference
PII S0017257X19000022
ISI
000466131300007
Medium
E-only publicatie
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (publisher's version - intranet only)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Publication type
Subject
Law 
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 25.06.2019
Last edited 24.11.2024
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