Chapter 6 Trade Unions in Tanzania
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McQuinn, Mark (2011) Civil Society as a Conflictual Sphere in Post‐Liberalization Tanzania: The Roles of NGOs and Trade Unions. PhD Thesis, SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies) http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/13632 Copyright © and Moral Rights for this thesis are retained by the author and/or other copyright owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non‐commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder/s. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. When referring to this thesis, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given e.g. AUTHOR (year of submission) "Full thesis title", name of the School or Department, PhD Thesis, pagination. Civil Society as a Conflictual Sphere in Post-Liberalization Tanzania: the Roles of NGOs and Trade Unions Mark McQuinn Thesis submitted for the degree of PhD in 2011 Department of Development Studies School of Oriental and African Studies University of London 1 Declaration for PhD Thesis I have read and understood regulation 17.9 of the Regulations for students of the School of Oriental and African Studies concerning plagiarism. I undertake that all the material presented for examination is my work and has not been written for me, in whole or in part, by any other person. I also undertake that any quotation or paraphrase from the published or unpublished work of another person has been duly acknowledged in the work which I present for examination Signed ……………………………………………… Date………………………………. Mark McQuinn 2 Acknowledgements I would like to express sincere thanks to my Supervisor, Dr Carlos Oya for his excellent advice, constant encouragement and good humour. Through Dr Oya‟s supervision I have been provided with access to many stimulating ideas, arguments and readings. I would also like to thank Dr Kevin Manton of the School of Oriental and African Studies, for his incisive insights and comments. I express my great appreciation to Dr Mikako Nishimuko of Hosei University in Japan for her generous support and practical advice. I received inestimable help when in Tanzania from Professor Samuel Chambua at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Dar es Salaam, who provided me with a lot of information on the labour movement and kindly gave me a copy of his book on Democratic Participation in Tanzania. I owe a large debt of gratitude to all the members of the Tanzanian trade union movement who gave me their time and help so willingly. I would particularly like to thank Mrs Margaret Mandago for her valuable advice. Thanks are also due to the following officials and ex-officials from the Trade Union Congress of Tanzania; Mr Nestory Ngulla, Mr Hasan Raha, Mr Nicholas Mgaya, Mr John Gonza and Mrs Sihan Ahmed. At the Tanzania Teachers Union, Mr Anthony Mtavangu gave me a great deal of useful advice and warm hospitality. At the Tanzania Railway Workers Union much help and kindness was shown to me by Mrs Helen Katala. Mr Victor Kassian, formerly Deputy General Secretary at the Tanzania Mines and Construction Workers Union, provided me with useful insights into labour issues. I also thank all the people from the NGO sector who gave me their time and help and, in particular; Mr Andrew Mushi, Ms Mary Rusimbi, Dr Joseph Kisanji, Mr Rakesh Rajani, Ms Gertrude Mugizi and Mrs Claire Lwehabura. Grateful thanks are given to my mother, Mrs Jane Johnston and to my step-father, Mr Bruce Johnston for their proof-reading. In particular, I would like to thank my mother for her tireless advice, support and encouragement. 3 Abstract This research examines, through a Gramscian perspective, the reconfiguration of civil society in post-liberalization Tanzania, centring on the rationale for the marginalization of trade unions. The liberalization of the Tanzanian economy, which started from the latter half of the 1980s, and was accompanied by a move to multiparty liberal democracy during the 1990s, has led to conflicts in the sphere of civil society. Since liberalization, influential multilateral and bilateral donors have driven the state to reconstitute civil society as an independent variable, based on a de Tocquevillian vision, whereby a wide variety of freely-formed organizations take part in national policy-making processes in a consensual way, to indicate their views and needs to the state. This requires the state to accept and accommodate a plurality of ideas, thereby, avoiding dominance by a small number of well-organized groups of citizens. However, the donors have supported the rise to prominence of a few urban-based non-governmental organizations (composed of well-educated professionals) versed in the hegemonic discourse, which revolves around the concepts of partnership, participation and ownership. In contrast, trade unions have been marginalized by the donors and the state, as they are regarded as a threat to neo-liberal hegemony in Tanzania, since they have engaged in a war of position, by organizing a small number of industrial actions and rhetorically challenging the state‟s treatment of the workforce. In responding to their marginalization, trade unions are hampered by two substantive problems: an ideological vacuum concerning perceptions of their role within the sphere of civil society in the post-liberalization period and structural constraints caused by lack of finance, falling membership and poor facilities. By using a Gramscian framework to analyse the position of trade unions in post-liberalization Tanzania, it is possible to understand how the integral state has maintained hegemony through the combined use of moral and intellectual leadership and coercive legal-bureaucratic means. Thus, the use of a Gramscian analysis provides a considerable amount of explanatory power concerning the ways in which associational life is integrated into national policy-making processes in post-liberalization Tanzania, and allows the weaknesses in the prevailing liberal conception, with its de Tocquevillian ideological roots, to be clearly seen. 4 Table of Contents Acknowledgements 3 Abstract 4 List of Tables 7 List of Figures 8 Acronyms and Abbreviations 9 Chapter 1 – The Research Problem 12 1.1 Objectives and Themes 12 1.2 Civil Society Sector in Tanzania as a Case Study 13 1.3 The Changing Development Context for the Civil Society Sector in Tanzania Following the rise of Neo-liberalism 15 1.4 Civil Society and the Stress on Participation and Ownership 24 1.5 Structure of the Thesis 29 1.6 Summary 31 Chapter 2 – Theoretical Approaches to Civil Society 35 2.1 Introduction 35 2.2 The Rise to Prominence of Civil Society in the Development Discourse 36 2.3 Key Civil Society Strands 37 2.4 The Prevailing Paradigm: the Liberal Conception of the Role of Civil Society in Development Processes 38 2.5 Countervailing Views to the Liberal Conception of the Role of Civil Society in Development Processes; the Gramscian Perspective 42 2.6 The Rise of NGOs as Key Civil Society Actors in Development Processes 47 2.7 Critiques of the Liberal Conception of the Role of NGOs 54 2.8 Summary 61 Chapter 3 -The History of Development Policies in Tanzania 63 3.1 Introduction 63 3.2 German Colonialism 63 3.3 British Colonialism to the Second World War 65 3.4 The Independence Struggle after the Second World War 68 3.4 Independence: From the One Party State to Structural Adjustment 72 3.5 The Post-liberalization Period 77 3.6 Summary 92 Chapter 4 – Methodology 94 4.1 Methodological Approach 94 4.2 Preliminary Fieldwork Issues 95 4.3 Fieldwork Experience 95 4.4 The Selection of Research Sites and Population Samples 97 4.5 Research Instruments 98 4.6 The Role of the Researcher 103 4.7 Procedures of Data Analysis 108 5 4.8 Summary 109 Chapter 5 – The NGO Sector in Tanzania 110 5.1 Overview of the Development of NGOs in Tanzania 110 5.2 NGOs during the period of British Colonialism 111 5.3 NGOs from Independence to the New Policy Agenda 112 5.4 NGOs in Post-liberalization Tanzania 117 5.5 NGOs in Tanzania: Key Fieldwork Findings 121 5.6 Summary 144 Chapter 6 - Trade Unions in Tanzania 147 6.1 Introduction 147 6.2 Theorizing Trade Unions 148 6.3 The Labour Aristocracy Debate 151 6.4 The Trade Union Movement in Tanzania from the Origins to Independence 154 6.5 National Union of Tanganyika Workers (NUTA) 156 6.6 Jumuiya ya Wafanyakazi wa Tanzania (JUWATA) 160 6.7 Trade Unions and Structural Adjustment 161 6.8 Trade Unions in Post-liberalization Tanzania 162 6.9 Trade Unions in Tanzania: Key Fieldwork Findings 179 6.10 Summary 199 Chapter 7 – NGOs, Trade Unions and the PRSP Process in Tanzania 202 7.1 Introduction 202 7.2 Overview of the Role of Civil Society in the PRSP Process 204 7.3 Conceptualizing Civil Society Participation in the PRSP Process 208 7.4 Measuring Civil Society Participation in, and Ownership of, the PRSP Process 209 7.5 The Tanzanian PRSP 213 7.6 NGO Engagement in the Tanzanian PRSP 214 7.7 Trade Union Engagement in the Tanzanian PRSP 227 7.8 Summary 239 Chapter 8 – Conclusions 241 8.1 The Position of Civil Society Organizations in Post-liberalization Tanzania 241 8.2 The Marginalization of Trade Unions in Post-liberalization Tanzania 242 8.3 Tanzanian Trade Unions and the Labour Aristocracy Debate 245 8.4 Tanzanian Trade Unions and Social Movement Unionism 246 8.5 The NGO Dominance of Civil Society in Post-liberalization