"Third Term" Phenomenon In The Political Developing Process Of Contemporary Uganda

The essence of the concept of ―Third Term‖ is the realization of long-term leadership under the framework of Western constitutional democracy.Traditional Western democrats regard the leaders who strive for ―Third Term‖ as progressive autocratic dictators.Meanwhile,prevailing ―Third Term‖ phenomenon in Africa is attributed to its political under-development,which completely negates the rationality of ―Third Term‖ phenomenon as well as its positive effect on the political developing process.This view lacks a recognition of the political uniqueness of Africa,where the concept of democracy is derived from the external indoctrination of the colonialists,which has not yet been compatible with the process of indigenous political development and traditional culture.Since the independence,African countries have been exploring a development path that suits their own demands,however the effort was interrupted by the wave of democratization led by the West.There is no choice but stereotyping the existing model of electoral politics for these newborn countries.This kind of ill-suited system has,since its birth,buried all sorts of contradictions inside state construction,national religion,constitutional democracy,integration and decentralization,which even hindered the development of the nation.Only by implementing the top-down Political reform,could the contradictions be solved smoothly.Political predicament is the same in Uganda,as a typical country with ―Third Term‖ phenomenon in Africa,whose president Yoweri Museveni,has been pursuing ―Third Term‖ since taking office in 1986.In 2005 and 2017,Museveni successfully amended the constitution twice,removing the restrictions on the president’s term and age,triggered controversy of international community and domestic opposition.This is not the consequence of the president‘s selfishness.As far as Uganda‘s domestic environment is concerned,it is by the comprehensive function of the strong personal appeal of Museveni,the imbalance of political power,the influence of interest groups,the prevailing of anti-war fervor in civil society and many other factors,that promote President Museveni to realize ―Third Term‖ successfully and led Ugandans more than 30 years.In Ugandan political system,the clear term limit of presidency is fixed in the form of the constitution.The most obvious ones are ―no president shall serve more than two terms‖ and ―all presidential candidates should be between the ages of 35 and 75‖.Thus,Museveni’s process of realizing ―Third Term‖ by legal means consists of two steps,that is,pushing parliament to amend the constitution in order to remove the limit of his term and further,to abolish the limit of presidential age.During this process,actions of political actors with different standpoints either to promote or prevent reality of ―Third Term‖,interacted deeply with the public sentiment towards this issue,which made the scope and impact of ―Third Term‖ phenomenon in Uganda much more complicated than the single judgment dimension of traditional Western democracy.To interpret ―Third Term‖ phenomenon in the political developing process of contemporary Uganda,we need to proceed from the dual perspectives of democratic theory and practical significance.The latter includes the comprehensive fields of political life,socio-economic,security situation and developing process,which is the realistic basis and ultimate value orientation of ―Third Term‖ evaluation.This paper will clarify the driving factors and comprehensive forces of ―Third Term‖ phenomenon in Uganda,analyze the impact of ―Third Term‖ phenomenon on Uganda,explore the prospect of Uganda’s political developing process,and further verify the theory of autonomous selection of African democratic institutions.