Civil society and contested elections in electoral autocracies : Dissent and caution in Uganda’s 2016 elections

Civil society organizations (CSOs) respond differently to challengesfrom autocratic governments and opposition parties around theregulation and content of elections. Building on research onautocratic state regulation of CSOs, this article contributes asharper focus on their horizontal relations to increaseunderstanding of their diverse strategies of engagement. Thearticle argues that even in contexts dominated by a heavyhanded state, relations between CSOs are especially importantduring elections, when they are most mobilized and motivated tobuild coalitions. The results of a study into how nongovernmental associations (NGOs) and faith-based organizations(FBOs) engaged with electoral reforms around the Uganda 2016general elections show how relations of cooperation,competition, or conflict between civil society organizationsmodify the effects of state regulation by adding to theirincentives and capacities. The findings help explain the manyways CSOs engage with each other, the population, the state,and the opposition, including their submission to and protestsagainst the autocratic order. Horizontal relations of conflict andcompetition among the FBOs prevented effective coalitions andfacilitated submissive politics during Uganda’s 2016 elections.Relations among governance NGOs, however, were morecooperative and generated protest alliances, even though thosealliances proved difficult to sustain.