ABSTRACT
The historical background of the cultural and political units that comprise the United Republic of Tanzania suggests the likelihood of a future filled with perpetual instability, fractionalism and ultimate division. Several broad policies can be interpreted together as having represented an effective and protracted campaign by the Tanzanian polity to control independent military behavior after 1964. The need to reevaluate the preservation of civilian rule in Tanzania is further underscored by the growing challenges to the military budget in a new and, perhaps, multiparty political system, and a possible weakening of egalitarian multiculturalism within Tanzania. Tanzania considered abolishing the army at independence, or placing it under the direct command of the United Nations. The African perestroika and Nyerere’s retirement both appear to threaten the future capacity of the Tanzanian state to control military intervention. Incidents of student activism have also underscored the fragility of civilian rule in Tanzania.
