Civil Society as a Conflictual Sphere in Post-liberalization Tanzania

This book uses a Gramscian perspective to examine the marginalization of trade unions as part of the reconfiguration of civil society in post-liberalization Tanzania. The liberalization of the Tanzanian economy which started during the 1980s has led to conflicts within civil society. Since liberalization influential donors have pushed the state to reconstitute civil society based on a consensual vision where in theory a wide variety of associational groups participate freely in national policy-making processes. However in practice the donors have supported the rise to prominence of a few non-governmental organizations versed in the dominant discourse which revolves around the concepts of partnership participation and ownership. In contrast trade unions by organizing industrial action and rhetorically challenging the state’s treatment of the workforce are regarded as a threat. They have consequently been marginalized. In responding to their marginalization trade unions are hampered by two substantive problems: an ideological vacuum concerning perceptions of their role and structural constraints caused by lack of finance falling membership and poor facilities.