The Research and Education for Democracy in Tanzania project is based at the Department of Political Science and Public Administration at the University of Dar es Salaam. This is the second in a series of publications documenting scholarly opinions and research findings. Issues relating to Tanzania's political trends are discussed, with a focus on the political environment and processes that surrounded the run up to the October 1995 general elections. It brings together analytical discussions on why Tanzania is yet to establish an enlightened civil society, the weaknesses and prospects of the new political parties, and the gender imbalances and disadvantaged position of women as political actors.

An examination of the evolution of democracy in Ghana and Tanzania, following long periods of single-party and military rule, and looks at the current and potential obstacles to democratic development. After discussing the nature of democracy, the author goes on to consider the conditions which have made the emergence of multi-party politics possible in Ghana and Tanzania. The book looks at the balance of forces between governments and campaigners for pluralist democracy, and at the outcomes that emerged.

Full parliamentary democracy did not come quickly or easily to Tanzania. In 1962, the first constitution of Tanzania as an independent republic shifted power from parliament to the executive: specifically to the presidency. In 1965, the interim constitution further eroded the powers of parliament in favour of a one party state, controlled by the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU). Parliament became little more than a token, rubber-stamping organisation. This multi-contributory study traces the development of multi-party democracy in Tanzania from the appointment of the first two chiefs to Tanganyika's colonial Legislative Council in 1945 to the present day. It highlights the struggle for supremacy between parliament and the executive during the period from 1968 to 1992, when parliament began to assert itself as a vibrant multi-party institution.