Post-war ruling parties and their youth wings : How old rebels handle the African millennials

Youth wings are crucial for political recruitment. But how do rebel-to-government parties relate to this section of their party structure? This chapter examines the role of youth wings in post-war politics in Ethiopia, Mozambique, and Uganda. In all countries, youth were an important part of the struggle, but as the rebel-to-government parties transformed into dominant party states the character of youth involvement differed. We demonstrate that even if the three cases all are examples of post-war authoritarian party rule, they represent different wartime and post-war trajectories and have mobilized distinctive constituency groups during the struggle and in the immediate post-war period. In Uganda and Mozambique youth were early identified as a group that should be politically organized, while youth were neither represented in political structures nor in party youth wings at the time of transition in Ethiopia.