MSUIR Collection:
https://cris.library.msu.ac.zw//handle/11408/2985
2024-03-29T09:32:00ZKith and kin affinities and inter-state engagements: an analysis of the international community’s reactions to Zimbabwe’s fast-track land reform programme
https://cris.library.msu.ac.zw//handle/11408/4622
Title: Kith and kin affinities and inter-state engagements: an analysis of the international community’s reactions to Zimbabwe’s fast-track land reform programme
Authors: Muzvidziwa, Joe
Abstract: This thesis on ‘Kith and Kin Affinities and Inter-State Engagements: An analysis of the International Community’s Reactions to the Zimbabwe’s Fast-Track Land Reform’ (FTLR) programme probes the international community’s intersecting, conflicting and racialised responses to Zimbabwe’s post-2000 radical land reform process. Most countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) sub-region and their respective leadership who viewed the late President Robert Mugabe as a committed revolutionary and exemplary Pan-Africanist considered the FTLR programme as a decolonial exercise, a case of Blacks justifiably retaking their patrimony. This view resonated with the anti-colonial sentiments prevalent in the SADC sub-region, especially in the countries led by former armed liberation movements such as Angola, Mozambique, Namibia and South Africa. The ruling parties of these countries revived their erstwhile armed liberation
struggle’s solidarity networks to guard against what they perceived as imperial snooping in Zimbabwe’s internal affairs. Western countries on the contrary, applied the neo-imperial governance debate by opposing the FTLR programme for violating property and human rights. Essentially, the West punished Zimbabwe through economic sanctions and ostracisation on the international arena for retaking its land from approximately 4 500 White farmers, representing 5% of the population, but owned 80% of the prime land in the country. The contradictory positions between the African and Western countries reveal the racial fault-lines in the international community’s reactions to Zimbabwe’s FTLR programme. Therefore, it is revealed in this study that kith and kin ideas informed the
opposing African and western communities’ orientations towards Zimbabwe’s IndigenousBlacks’ repossession of the country’s prime land from the minority White farmers. The study further observed that kith and kin affinities and inter-state engagements failed to address the land imbalances in Zimbabwe and protected the land invasions when the process was internationalised through the SADC Tribunal. China and Russia remained neutral in their engagements with Zimbabwe, largely because of ideological reasons. Both countries pursued an international relations policy premised on the ideal of noninterference in the domestic affairs of other countries. The development of effective communications at all levels in national survival programmes will address the polarisation challenge that has left Zimbabwe exposed to negative external influence in its debates on national survival issues. This thesis was grounded on the Social Constructivism Theory which used the qualitative research methodology and deployed the interpretive and critical philosophy. The narrative design, utilised the thematic and content technique for data analysis.2021-01-01T00:00:00ZMuzvidziwa, JoeThe post-colonial challenges of nation-building through international engagement: an analysis of Zimbabwe’s International Relations from 1980 to 2016
https://cris.library.msu.ac.zw//handle/11408/2986
Title: The post-colonial challenges of nation-building through international engagement: an analysis of Zimbabwe’s International Relations from 1980 to 2016
Authors: Mudyanadzo, Wenceslaus
Abstract: Zimbabwe inherited a strong, sophisticated and integrated economy on achieving independence in 1980 despite the existence of mandatory United Nations sanctions on the then Rhodesian Government. After independence, Zimbabwe went on to establish an international network of bilateral and multilateral relations with the global community which the previous racist regime of Rhodesia could not achieve. Zimbabwe was also embraced by both western and eastern bloc countries who mobilised international financial resources in the form of grants and soft loans to support post-war recovery programmes, land resettlement and redistribution, rural development, the training of the human resource base of the new nation and the provision of critical infrastructure. As a result of the international goodwill towards Zimbabwe, the country achieved modest Growth Domestic Product (GDP) annual growth rates of between 7.5% in 1980 to 2.1% in 1998. Thereafter, especially between 2000 and 2008, the country experienced unprecedented negative economic growth rates averaging -7% per annum leading to the collapse of the economy, and the general incapacity of political and social sectors of the country to support the nation. The study therefore sought to unravel the cause of the unprecedented decline of the state in economic, political and social terms between 1980 and 2016 despite the existence of multiple bilateral and multilateral relationships with the global community. Such networks were expected to boost the economy and political and social institutions through foreign direct investment, trade, tourism and development assistance initiatives but instead the state continued to decline from 1997 to 2016 except for the period during the Government of National Unity (2009-2013).
The research utilised in-depth interviews and unstructured questionnaires to collect data from policy makers, foreign policy and public policy experts and civil society groups which specialise in international relations and public policy issues. The primary sources of data collected were also supplemented by secondary sources of data. The combined theories of realism, liberalism, cognitivism, constructivism, marxism and regionalism reflected in one way or the other the behaviour pattern of Zimbabwe in the international system. The theories of realism, liberalism and regionalism were more dominant in the study. The study concluded that Zimbabwe’s international relations practices which emanated from the country’s public policies and other governance practices were largely to blame for the country’s decline from a strong state to a weak state between 1980 and 2016. The study concluded by pointing out how Zimbabwe could rebuild its international relations profile through re-engagement and policy reform.2017-01-01T00:00:00ZMudyanadzo, Wenceslaus