An analysis of Zimbabwe’s diplomatic communication strategies from 1980-2008

Abstract

This dissertation makes an assessment of Zimbabwe’s Diplomatic Communication Strategies and analyse the impact exerted by these strategies on the political, social and economic welfare of the country. Over the years diplomacy has been regarded as a less important aspect of a country’s development since the way states and their subjects communicates to the outside world have been trivialised and thus side-lining the power of actions and the spoken word. Zimbabwe among other 3rd world countries have implored actions of subordination and use of derogatory terms to muscle out competition and to keep external influence at a distance in the country’s internal affairs. Thus the research seek to understand how these actions have directly or indirectly contributed to the failure of Zimbabwe’s diplomatic relations at local, regional and international level. The power struggle that have been in existence in Zimbabwe since 1980 have greatly contributed to the division of the country’s policies between the EAST and the WEST, thus ushering in an ideological warfare of communism versus capitalism and the means of communication adopted influenced the origins, nature and impact of domestic and foreign policies adopted by Zimbabwe between 1980 and 2008. The dissertation presents a platform for intense understanding of how actions (Signals) and spoken word (Verbal Communication) influence the direction of a country’s international relations through analysing its domestic and foreign policies. However Diplomatic Communication also dwells much on Written Communication which will be explained in brief even though not the principal component of the research. The dissertation deliberately side-lines written communication since it has been treated as a sensitive field thus due to fear of information scarcity the dissertation concentrate on Signals and Verbal Communication as components of the study. It is through this research that recommendations on how to improve diplomatic relations through proper and acceptable communication strategies are proffered. The paper makes wide ranging use of newspaper evidence, parliamentary debates, oral evidence, speeches and observations. Thus dwelling much on secondary data.