Ethnicity: The people of mainland Tanzania belong to the Bantu
ethnic group. There is a small Indian minority. The people of
Zanzibar (less than 2% of the national population) are mainly of Arab
or mixed Arab-African descent.
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Capital: Dodoma. Unofficially Dar-es-Salaam is still the government
centre.
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Head of government: The President, who appoints the members of the Cabinet. One of
these holds the title of Prime Minister but is not the head of the government.
Legislature: Tanzania has a unicameral legislature. The
National Assembly (Bunge) has 274 members, of whom
232 are elected for five-year terms from single-member constituences. An additional
37 seats are
allocated to women nominated by the president, and five seats are allocated to members
of the Zanzibar House of Representatives.
Electoral authority: Elections in Tanzania are conducted by the government.
Freedom House rating:
Political Rights 4, Civil Liberties 3
(Freedom House notes that Tanzania's civil liberties rating has improved since 2001.)
Political history
The island of Zanzibar became the southern terminus of the Arab trade network in
East Africa in the Middle Ages. From 1806 the island and nearby coastal areas
were ruled by Sultan of Oman, but in 1861 Zanzibar became an independent sultanate
under British protection.
In
1888 the Germans leased the coastal territories from the Sultan, and this became the
colony of German East Africa. In 1890 Zanzibar became a formal British protectorate.
British forces occupied German East Africa during the First World War and in 1922
it became the League of Nations Mandated Territory of Tanganyika, under British
administration.
Tanganyika achieved responsible government in 1960 and independence in 1961. The British
protectorate over Zanzibar was ended in 1963, and in 1964 a revolution deposed the Sultan
and Zanzibar briefly became a People's Republic. In October 1964 Tanganyika and Zanzibar
federated as the United Republic of Tanzania, under the Presidency of Julius Nyerere.
Nyerere, a utopian socialist, was widely admired in the west, but his economic
policies bankrupted the country and his establishment of a one-party state in 1965
made political
change impossible. Nyerere also tolerated the petty despotism of the Afro-Shirazi party
in Zanzibar.
Nyerere retired in 1985 and political and economic liberalisation
began under his successor Ali Hassan Mwinyi. In 1991 the one-party state was abandoned
and free elections held, but the old socialist Constitution remained in place.
Government in Tanzania remains corrupt and inefficient, particularly in Zanzibar.
Although Tanzania is now theoretically a multi-party state, Tanzanian government
and politics are still dominated by the Revolutionary State Party, which is
descended from Nyerere's Tanganyikan African National Union. The only opposition parties
of any significance are the Civic United Front, based
in Zanzibar, and the Party for Democracy and Progress, both of which favour further reforms including a
new constitution.
In 1888 the Germans leased the coastal territories from the Sultan, and this became the colony of German East Africa. In 1890 Zanzibar became a formal British protectorate. British forces occupied German East Africa during the First World War and in 1922 it became the League of Nations Mandated Territory of Tanganyika, under British administration.
Tanganyika achieved responsible government in 1960 and independence in 1961. The British protectorate over Zanzibar was ended in 1963, and in 1964 a revolution deposed the Sultan and Zanzibar briefly became a People's Republic. In October 1964 Tanganyika and Zanzibar federated as the United Republic of Tanzania, under the Presidency of Julius Nyerere.
Nyerere, a utopian socialist, was widely admired in the west, but his economic policies bankrupted the country and his establishment of a one-party state in 1965 made political change impossible. Nyerere also tolerated the petty despotism of the Afro-Shirazi party in Zanzibar.
Nyerere retired in 1985 and political and economic liberalisation began under his successor Ali Hassan Mwinyi. In 1991 the one-party state was abandoned and free elections held, but the old socialist Constitution remained in place. Government in Tanzania remains corrupt and inefficient, particularly in Zanzibar.
Although Tanzania is now theoretically a multi-party state, Tanzanian government and politics are still dominated by the Revolutionary State Party, which is descended from Nyerere's Tanganyikan African National Union. The only opposition parties of any significance are the Civic United Front, based in Zanzibar, and the Party for Democracy and Progress, both of which favour further reforms including a new constitution.