Konsten att ändra en konstitution och behålla sin dominans

Sammanfattning: The essay discusses the different responses to constitution changes during the summer/fall 2015, allowing a new term limit for the presidents in Rwanda and Burundi. By using theory on dominant party systems the text tries to explain this has resulted in a lost dominance in Burundi, while the RPF-dominance in Rwanda has prevailed. The essay is based on the logic of method of difference and uses process tracing to analyze 6 different factors that theories on dominant party systems list as important for sustaining party dominance. Through looking at how these have influenced the events around the constitution changes, the essay comes to the conclusion that the factor causing the difference is the parties’ different usage of historical events to increase their legitimacy. This has given the RPF in Rwanda the means to control the economy, constitution writing and appointment of power positions, effectively undermining opposition forces conditions to organize and gather support. In Burundi, the CNDD-FDD hasn’t been able to reproduce such legitimacy, leading to a weaker control of economy, state institutions and hence also appointment of power positions, which in return has led to a more diverse division of power, constituting a resource for political opposition.