https://cris.library.msu.ac.zw//handle/11408/109 Thu, 09 Apr 2026 10:32:04 GMT 2026-04-09T10:32:04Z https://cris.library.msu.ac.zw//handle/11408/6773 Title: Emerging Economic Partners: Revisiting BRICS-Zimbabwe Trade and Investment Relations Under Western Sanctions (2000–2016) Authors: Mujana Oscar; Sertac Sonan Abstract: The expanding economic and political footprint of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) on the global landscape is generating heated debates, yet surprisingly, BRICS’ economic relations with countries subjected to Western economic sanctions have received limited scholarly attention. This article aims to fill this gap in the existing literature by analysing the evolving trade and investment relations between BRICS and Zimbabwe. The findings reveal that BRICS has provided alternative economic partnerships amid Zimbabwe’s isolation by Western economies helping to mitigate the adverse effects of the sanctions. These findings are important for scholars and policymakers to reconsider the efficacy of economic sanctions in an era of multipolarity characterised by the growing influence of BRICS. Wed, 01 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT https://cris.library.msu.ac.zw//handle/11408/6773 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z Mujana Oscar Sertac Sonan https://cris.library.msu.ac.zw//handle/11408/5597 Title: Demystifying the International Criminal Court (ICC) Target Africa Political Rhetoric Authors: Torque Mude Abstract: The ongoing debate on the ICC’s selective application of international criminal law targeting Africans has had negative implications on the international court and the law it applies. As a consequence of the political rhetoric that the ICC targets Africa, African leaders and their sympathisers have tended to view the court with contempt and some have expressed intentions to withdraw their membership of the court. Against this background, this paper examines the argument that the ICC targets Africa which amounts to an affront to international criminal law and its objective to end impunity to achieve international justice. The conclusion drawn from this study is that the assertion that the ICC targets Africa is a mere political rhetoric that warrants demystification. It is a political rhetoric advanced by African leaders to manipulate their way out of the responsibility to be accountable to international criminal law. Furthermore, the notion that the court targets Africans lacks substantive credibility as it ignores several structural and technical underpinnings such as the jurisdictional triggers, the role of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and other functional modalities that guide the operation of the court. Data for this paper were gathered from journal articles, organisational reports and documents, newspapers, case reports, treaties and other online sources. Sun, 01 Jan 2017 00:00:00 GMT https://cris.library.msu.ac.zw//handle/11408/5597 2017-01-01T00:00:00Z Torque Mude https://cris.library.msu.ac.zw//handle/11408/5576 Title: On the brink of an Arab spring-style conflict: Zimbabwe’s quagmire and policy options Authors: Torque Mude Abstract: The aim of this study is to examine the political and economic challenges facing Zimbabwe in relation to the potential of generating a violent uprising resembling the Arab Spring civil conflicts. Zimbabwe is in a quagmire due to security, political and economic upheavals that have bedeviled the Southern African country since the end of the Government of National Unity (GNU) in 2013. The government seems to be reluctant to acknowledge the magnitude of the situation and let alone address it. That is the most worrisome thing. If the situation continues unabated, these problems have a potential of generating a violent uprising whose course and effects could equate those that hit North African states since 2010. Data for this study was gathered from secondary data sources including desktop research, books, newspapers and journal articles. Fri, 03 Mar 2017 00:00:00 GMT https://cris.library.msu.ac.zw//handle/11408/5576 2017-03-03T00:00:00Z Torque Mude https://cris.library.msu.ac.zw//handle/11408/5400 Title: Depoliticising disaster response in a politically saturated context: the case of the 2016-19 droughts in Zimbabwe Authors: Ntombizakhe Moyo-Nyoni Abstract: Responding to disasters triggered by natural hazards is a deeply political process, but it is usually presented by practitioners as an apolitical endeavour. This is striking when disasters occur in authoritarian and politically highly polarised conflict-affected settings. Although the literature provides leads as to why and how humanitarians depoliticise aid, there has been little empirical research on the implications of depoliticisation, especially at the community level. Based on qualitative fieldwork that focused on the drought responses that overlapped with the 2016-19 sociopolitical crises in Zimbabwe, this paper details the practices, motivations, and implications of humanitarian depoliticisation. It differentiates between strategic, coerced, and routine managerial depoliticisation, and argues that, in an authoritarian conflict-affected setting, depoliticisation strategically allows state and non-state actors to defuse sensitive issues and actor relations and to remain safe. However, depoliticisation can also have implications for information management, monitoring, accountability, and protection, and thus ultimately for upholding humanitarian principles. Thu, 28 Apr 2022 00:00:00 GMT https://cris.library.msu.ac.zw//handle/11408/5400 2022-04-28T00:00:00Z Ntombizakhe Moyo-Nyoni