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Atlas / Organisations / National Resistance Movement

National Resistance Movement

NRM · 1986– · Uganda · Liberation Authoritarian · Held state power · coding confidence medium

+04ECmarket
+08CUtraditional
+08AUmonist
+06SCcentral
+04IDascriptive
+01CHcoercive

Each axis runs from −10 to +10, with zero a genuine mixed or balanced position rather than an absence of opinion. A score describes a stated position and a governing record; it is not a judgement of merit. What each score means →

Core principles

A no-party 'movement' system justified as transcending ethnic division, later formally multi-party without changing who governs.

Economic model

Liberalised, donor-supported, oil development, strong growth from a low base.

Organisation of powers

Presidential term and age limits removed by parliament; opposition candidates detained during campaigns.

Check a claim about National Resistance Movement. The interactive atlas measures the distance between any two organisations across all six axes and shows which ones carry the disagreement.

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The evidence for every score

All six cells are sourced. A rationale explains what the score is measuring and each artefact is something a third party can check without taking anyone's word for it.

EC · Economic organisation · scored +04

Coded +4: liberalised and donor-supported with new oil development.

  • Documented act or statuteState enterprises were privatised in the 1990s; oil production infrastructure is under construction with foreign partners.

CU · Social and cultural order · scored +08

Coded +8: among the most restrictive social legislation in the world.

  • Documented act or statuteThe 2023 Anti-Homosexuality Act provides for life imprisonment and, in some cases, the death penalty.

AU · Organisation of power · scored +08

Coded +8: constitutional limits removed one by one over three decades.

  • Documented act or statutePresidential term limits were removed in 2005 and the age limit in 2017.
  • Documented act or statuteOpposition candidates have been detained during campaigns and internet access shut during elections.

SC · Scale of decision · scored +06

Coded +6: a centralised state with districts multiplied for patronage.

  • Documented act or statuteThe number of districts grew from 39 in 1990 to over 130, each with centrally funded administration.

ID · Rule of membership · scored +04

Coded +4: a movement frame claiming to transcend ethnicity.

  • Programme textThe no-party movement system was justified as preventing ethnic party formation.

CH · Method and tempo · scored +01

Coded +1: power taken by guerrilla war in 1986 and held by election since.

  • Documented act or statuteThe National Resistance Army took Kampala in January 1986 after a five-year war.

Nearest organisations by measured distance

Straight-line separation across all six axes, out of a maximum of 49.0. Proximity means similarity of stated position, not endorsement and not resemblance in outcome.

Countries

Uganda

Cite this page

Scores are revised on evidence, so a citation should carry the version it refers to. Version 4.3.1 is current; the revision log records every change.

McGrath, K. (2026). National Resistance Movement. The Political Atlas, version 4.2. https://thepoliticalatlas.com/organisations/nrm/ (accessed 2026-08-01).

Free to quote and reproduce with attribution. This is a synthesis rather than a peer-reviewed dataset — where an authoritative figure is needed, cite the Chapel Hill Expert Survey, the Manifesto Project or V-Dem.