Seminar: Tanzania Now: The 2019 Elections and the Current Political Climate (København)

For years, Tanzania has earned a reputation as East Africa’s most peaceful democracy.

However, in recent years, the country has drifted into authoritarianism with rampart state crackdowns on freedom of speech and organization, and a deterioration in human rights.

This presentation will offer updates to the recent Tanzanian political landscape under President Magufuli and implication for the general election later this year.

The two speakers will be:

Thabit Jacob, Tanzanian researcher and a doctoral fellow at Roskilde University. His research focuses broadly on the political economy of development, specifically on Tanzanian political economy, politics and geopolitics of minerals, energy and natural resource extraction. Other areas of his research include renewable energy, energy transition, land and resource conflicts and China-Africa relations. 

Rasmus Hundsbæk Pedersen, senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies(DIIS). He has worked on a number of issues related to land and natural resource investments in
Tanzania with a focus on politics, rights and local communities. He has been involved in researchprojects in Tanzania since 2009. He has also been working in Uganda and Ghana.

Discussant: Ole Therkildsen, Emeritus Researcher, Danish Institute for International Studies

Organizer: Centre of African Studies