Interview with Professor Mahmood Mamdani on the making and breaking of Uganda (The Conversation)

Mamdani explains the factors and characters – Idi Amin and Yoweri Museveni – that shaped post-independence Uganda.

January 28, 2026

The Conversation Africa interviewed Professor Mahmood Mamdani for a story published January 13 in which he explains there are striking differences between Amin and Museveni.

Mamdani is the Herbert Lehman Professor of Government in Columbia University’s Department of Anthropology as well as a faculty affiliate in the African American and African Diaspora Studies Department.