‘Developmental nationalism?’ Political trust and the politics of large-scale land investment in Magufuli's Tanzania

Abstract

Research on large-scale land investments (LSLIs) can provide valuable insights into the support for developmental nationalism in Tanzania today. ‘Developmental nationalism’ is ‘a creative variant of liberation’, which purports to make ‘Tanzania great again’. The nationalist turn of late President Magufuli was grounded in political ideology and the selective history of the past that swept him to power. However, there is limited research on how political practice around land investments contribute to trust and support for public institutions. This paper makes two key contributions to scholarship on the political economy of LSLIs. First, we examine the messy politics of LSLIs, the failures in design and implementation, and the rise in local support for developmental nationalism in two rural settings in Tanzania. Second, using Latent Class Analysis (LCA), we identify distinct groups of individuals based on their trust in the President, the ruling party (CCM), the Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC) and support for LSLIs. We define political trust as ‘an evaluative orientation towards an institution or government, based on people's normative expectations’.