Modes of British Imperial Control of Africa

This book examines how Great Britain, as a colonial power in Africa, organized and exercised control at the international and domestic level to advance British interests in Uganda and beyond. While this book is by no means an exhaustive study of the various modes of control that took hold in Uganda since its inception as a territorial state up to the period of juridical independence, it is hoped that its historiographical contributions to the post-colonial dispensation of Uganda will be threefold. First, it systematically sheds light on the combined influence of racist ideology, class, and politics in perpetuating informal imperial control in Uganda. Second, it demonstrates that consolidating informal imperial control has required externalizing the legitimacy of the Ugandan state. This suggests that African leaders not supported by external powers may be externally delegitimized and their position made untenable. Third, it demonstrates that the informal control imposed upon Africans by external powers, by removing incentives for internal legitimacy, encouraged violations of human rights as African leaders did not need to obtain the consent of their own people in order to remain in power. Furthermore, it advances the argument that democracy, the rule of law and the protection of human rights can be achieved in Africa if leaders enjoy internal legitimacy derived from the people. The various modes of control imposed by former masters over colonial and post-colonial states were not meant to protect African, but imperial interests.