Ambivalent Accommodation: The Politics of Religious Leaders and the Hybrid Regime in Uganda

This paper explores the political approaches of community-based Christian and Muslim leaders in Uganda, using interview data from 2017 to 2021. It extends theories about when and why religious leaders mobilize for political reform, updated to reflect the rise of the “hybrid regime” in Africa and recent evidence of religious de-politicization. I find Ugandan community-based religious leaders’ approaches range from political avoidance, to ambivalent accommodation, to political activism; with the dominant approach being ambivalent accommodation of the hybrid regime. I argue this approach reflects both a desire to protect their social welfare activities from government retaliation, and their perception of political activity as associated with divisive partisanship; even as they express growing concerns about human rights abuses and corruption. These findings thus show the unique challenges of the neoliberal hybrid authoritarian state for religiously led political movements.