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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Whither Zimbabwe? Crisis and Democratisation |
Author: | Sachikonye, Lloyd M. |
Year: | 2002 |
Periodical: | Review of African Political Economy |
Volume: | 29 |
Issue: | 91 |
Period: | March |
Pages: | 13-20 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | Zimbabwe |
Subjects: | authoritarianism democracy political change Politics and Government Law, Human Rights and Violence |
External links: | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03056240208704581 http://ejournals.ebsco.com/direct.asp?ArticleID=40E0AAC48E7BEFE06243 |
Abstract: | This paper presents an overview of the dimensions of the crisis that beset Zimbabwe, and the domestic response to that crisis. When it attained its independence in 1980, there were high hopes expressed for Zimbabwe's political and economic future. By the late 1990s, however, those early hopes had been dashed. Instead of expanding, the economy had begun to contract. The economic downturn intensified an unfolding social crisis. Deepening poverty and food insecurity are compounded by the HIV-AIDS pandemic. The erosion of the erstwhile substantial political base of the ZANU-PF party which had ruled from 1980 must be sought in its poor record in addressing the multiple crisis. The stage was therefore set for intense political contestation which commenced in the late 1990s and became sharper in the period 2000 to early 2002. The contestation was over ZANU-PF's hegemony. The Mugabe/ZANU-PF 2002 campaign for the presidency was characterized by Mugabe's inflammatory rhetoric, intimidation and violence, and increasing militarization. The politics of electioneering in Zimbabwe in the period 2000-2002 show how increasingly authoritarian a regime under concerted opposition challenge can become. The process of democratization in Zimbabwe is under severe test. However, as the repression in 2001 and 2002 proceeded, solidarity became an important force for resistance and change again. Bibliogr. |