The Primacy of Regime Survival

This book analyses the past and ongoing decline of Zimbabwe under the rule of ZANU-PF, with a primary focus on the period 1997 to the present. In contrast to much existing literature on post-independence Zimbabwe which has focused on the political dimensions of Zimbabwe's fragility, this research highlights the economic aspects of Zimbabwe's regression flowing from prolonged mismanagement of the economy which has served to consolidate the rule of the country's political and economic elite. The Zimbabwean experience offers unique insights into the economic mensions of regime preservation. This book situates the Zimbabwe experience within the context of wider debates within the field of development studies, and the international community's response to such situations.

1. Introduction. - 2. The Economics of State Fragility. - 3. Zimbabwe s First Decade: Building the One-Party State and Controlling the Economy. - 4. Regime Interests and the Failure of Economic Reform in the 1990s. - 5. Regime Survival and the Fast Track Land Reform Programme. - 6. Regime Survival and the Attack on the Urban Poor. - 7. Regime Survival: Poverty Creation, Mass Migration and Elite Enrichment. - 8. International Isolation and the Search for New Friends . - 9. Economic Meltdown and Elections. - 10. The Challenges of Cohabitation - 11. Protecting the ZANU-PF State: Safeguarding Extractive Political Structures. - 12 Protecting the ZANU-PF State: Safeguarding Extractive Economic Institutions. - 13. A Resurgent ZANU-PF. - 14. The Transitions That Weren t.