Charlotte Karungi Mafumbo

Interventionist Foreign Policy: Uganda's Security Challenges a Study Charlotte Karungi Mafumbo

This study set out to answer one critical question, namely,what is the most parsimonious theory that explains Uganda's interventionist foreign policy behaviour in three of its neighbouring states of Burundi, Rwanda and the DRC during 1986-2006. Drawing on four theoretical approaches,viz. Constructivism, Poliheurism, Liberalism and the Security Dilemma theory,which is a variant of Realism, It is argued that,the Security Dilemma theory is the most parsimonious theoretical perspective because it explains multiple exercises of Uganda's interventions in its western neighbouring states. Where the Security Dilemma is unable to explain Uganda's interventionist foreign policy,it requires other theories to complement it to explain all the interventions conclusively. Alternative theories drawn upon to complement the Security Dilemma are Constructivism, Poliheurism and the Utilitarian Liberal position. The study argues that although the use of a single theoretical approach may indeed be able to explain a specific intervention at a given time,it may not be sufficiently comprehensive to encapsulate Uganda's interventionist foreign policy in all three states thus the application of multiple theories.