When it comes to democracy in the modern world, Zimbabawe’s democratic system finds itself in a precariously unique position where it seeks to find a balance between survival and stability in a challenging environment. The nation’s unique position is attributed to a combination of postcolonial history, geography, economics, politics, and relationship with its citizens. The main argument of this paper is to analyze the relationship between these and demonstrate how these dynamics will influence the state of democracy in its future. Furthermore, I will integrate this analysis with concepts discussed in class to develop the argument.
Zimbabwe’s current history followed the historical trend of developing nations where they had an existing Indigenous society that was governed by pre-existing dynamics such as empires, chieftains, and confederations.
- In the late 19th through early 20th century, they were colonized or became protectorates of European powers such as Great Britain, France, Belgium, Portugal, Italy, Germany, and Spain until they achieved independence during the independence movements of the 1950s to 1980s.
- For Zimbabwe, its democracy started from the remnants of the former Rhodesian government in the 1980s with a democratic government led by Robert Mugabe with an economy based on the lucrative and exploitative diamond industry.
- The government of modern Zimbabwe on paper, is presidential republic with a bicameral, multiparty parliament, led by an elected President. However, Robert Mugabe served as its president under a political coalition under the Zimbabwe African National Unity Party, or ZANU-PF.
- ZANU-PF exudes control under electoral and stealth authoritarianism. In this framework, Mugabe leveraged favoritism while retaining popularity and his office with disputed elections while candidates from opposition parties are typically controlled by the ZANU-PF directly and indirectly.
- During his time, Mugabe cracked down on protests and any threats to his hold on power until the current president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, succeeded after his death in the 2010s.
Despite a promising start, Zimbabwe’s democracy remains fraught with corruption, democratic backsliding, suppression of civil and political rights, chronic debt and hyperinflation, and prolonged presidency of Robert Mugabe.
According to Masunungure, author of “Zimbabwe’s Trajectory : Stepping Forward or Sliding Back,” describes a random citizen’s perspective since independence. “At independence, the country proudly stepped forward after one and half decades of international isolation and comprehensive, mandatory sanctions. It was a moment of jubilation though signals of predation had already begun to emerge towards the end of that decade. The second decade was a transitional one in both the socio-economic and political domains.. It was a decade that connected the first decade of a positive trajectory to the last two decades of serious decline leading to the birth and proliferation of civic organizations advocating for democratization of the political agora and governance systems…Today, Zimbabwe has become a fragile state.”(Masunungure, 2020)
The description adds a vivid perspective set the stage for the post- Mugabe society where he debates the notion of a “failed state” as a failed service that contributed to a vicious cycle of electoral authoritarianism from the government. Economic inequality exasperated and pushed the country to adopt several foreign currencies ranging from the across the world. This contributed to its own currency being rendered worthless as it constantly borrowed and printed money from that stymied domestic development and the social mobility of its citizens.
One question challenges this assertion: If other democracies experienced similar events, what can Zimbabwe learn from them? How can these lessons improve state services?
In Africa, the nations of Botswana, Rwanda, and South Africa faced similar scenarios. Today they have a prosperous society as one of the most developed and landlocked nations of Africa with a higher standard of living, gross domestic product, and human development than their neighbors. Botswana, Rwanda, and South Africa it is important to understand that they were based on good political management, democratic and peaceful state building, and economic diversification.
One can argue that the prosperity of a nation is a combination of the aforementioned factors and the mobility of its citizens to make social changes in their nation’s society. An empirical argument in this regard also comes from Mwanaka as he described the economic aspect of the agriculture sector.
He describes the fall of the sector as an attribute to a wider economic disconnect with Zimbabwe’s policy of land redistribution schemes. “Between 2000 and 2002, some 11 million hectares were confiscated from 4000 white farmers and redistributed to an estimated 127,000 small-farm families and 7200 black commercial farmers, and these farms remained unutilized, 15 years down the line. Those who are struggling to do something on these farms are producing very little to account for much to the GDP of the economy. We used to be in the top 6 in tobacco farming, which was our biggest agricultural foreign currency earner, but we have plummeted. I am told by insiders that even tobacco companies in Zimbabwe do not use the tobacco we are growing because it is of low quality. They would rather import tobacco from Brazil, at $3/kg, than buying the low-quality tobacco from new farmers which is going for $4/kg.” (Mwanaka, 2020)
This policy is a stark contrast to the practices of the most prosperous nations on Earth as certain laws and principles such as private property, freedom to conduct business, loosening overbearing bureaucratic regulations, and building domestic confidence to generate economic and social growth. The implications of this program should serve as a lesson on the drawbacks of the failure to address domestic issues in the greater international scope by the government.
In regard to the wider state of democracy, the author of the book, Zimbabwe: Urgency of Now, accentuates the frustrations of the people from his own perspective. “Participating in a democracy requires putting one’s life and trust on the good faith of others.. This is what we have been staking our lives and trust on, the good faith of the ZANU-PF. Every time, we have our faith trampled on. Every time we go to these elections with faith and high hopes that we are going to have free and fair elections, and every time we have been crying… The price of freedom is not cheap, and there is no price for culpable ignorance. When you say you won’t go and vote because already the election is lost.” (Mwanaka, 2015)
The frustration and disappointment that he expressed in his book captured a compelling perspective about the political process in a compromised democracy. The book takes a more rallying tone akin to Dr. King’s book, “Where Do We Go From Now?” that pushed the issue of democratic and civic involvement from the citizens as whole. Mwanaka portrayed this dissatisfactory relationship in the midst of democratic drawbacks and growing pains such with democratic norms such as participation, activism, civil society, personal freedoms, and accountability to the public.
An empirical example of politics in 2018 where the ruling ZANU-PF party “won 69% of the 210 elective seats in Parliament, and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) announced that Mnangagwa had beaten the other 22 presidential candidates to garner 50.8% of the vote. The main opposition, the MDC Alliance (MDC-A), challenged this election result which was later upheld by the Constitutional Court.” (Masunungure, 2020)
The implications this system in present a challenge the notion of Mugabe regime’s control as constitutional enforcements serve as counterpoint by demonstrating the resilience of its political system and possible future erosion as seen in other countries such as the United States, Europe, or its neighbors. It is important to know that courts are a driving factors towards pushing the government to adopt reforms in the future or allow civil society to change the political environment.
If state service failures are the reason of democratic hinderance, it is also possible to understand that securing personal freedoms, business rights, civil reforms, and an actively diligent civil society are necessary to protecting and improving the state of democracy. Under this framework, there is more opportunity for domestic unity rather than foreign intervention that has been practiced in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Sudan, in previous decades. Zimbabwe demonstrates that a nation can exist in between failure and success as its struggles to grow and adapt with modern times. There is no denial that democracies are institutions that will always face challenges through time. However, the distinction of between successful and failed democracies is more nuanced than what is on the surface of news reports. For nations like Zimbabwe, the situation presents an opportunity that can be addressed through a combination of tailored and well-conducted reforms. The most important piece of this proverbial puzzle lies in the political will between the government and its people. The implications of a reform of this nature are initially difficult until a habitual precedent encourages change in the following decades.
Hannah Baron, Robert A. Blair, Jessica Gottlieb, and Shelby Grossman. 2019. In Finkel, Eugene, Adria Lawrence and Andrew Mertha (eds.). The US in Comparative Perspective. Newsletter of the Organized Section in Comparative Politics of the American Political Science Association 29(1): 77-84
"Kuhusu demokrasia katika ulimwengu wa kisasa, mfumo wa kidemokrasia wa Zimbabwe unapatikana katika nafasi ya kipekee ambapo inatafuta kupata usawa kati ya kuishi na utulivu katika mazingira magumu.""" Msimamo wa kipekee wa taifa hilo unahusishwa na mchanganyiko wa historia ya baada ya ukoloni, jiografia, uchumi, siasa, na uhusiano na raia wake. """Hatua kuu ya karatasi hii ni kuchambua uhusiano kati ya haya na kuonyesha jinsi mienendo hii itaathiri hali ya demokrasia katika siku zijazo." Zaidi ya hayo, mimi kuunganisha uchambuzi huu na dhana kujadiliwa katika darasa kuendeleza hoja. Historia ya sasa ya Zimbabwe ilifuata mwelekeo wa kihistoria wa mataifa yanayoendelea ambapo walikuwa na jamii ya wenyeji iliyopo ambayo ilitawaliwa na mienendo iliyopo hapo awali kama vile milki, wakuu, na muungano. Katika karne ya 19 hadi 20, zilikuwa chini ya utawala wa mataifa ya Ulaya kama vile Uingereza, Ufaransa, Ubelgiji, Ureno, Italia, Ujerumani na Hispania hadi zilipopata uhuru wakati wa harakati za uhuru wa miaka ya 1950 hadi 1980. Zimbabwe ilipata demokrasia yake kutokana na mabaki ya serikali ya zamani ya Rhodesia katika miaka ya 1980 na serikali ya kidemokrasia iliyoongozwa na Robert Mugabe na uchumi uliotegemea sekta ya almasi yenye faida na ya unyonyaji. Serikali ya Zimbabwe ya kisasa kwenye karatasi, ni jamhuri ya urais na bunge la vyama viwili, linaloongozwa na Rais aliyechaguliwa. Hata hivyo, Robert Mugabe alitumikia kama rais wake chini ya muungano wa kisiasa chini ya Chama cha Umoja wa Kitaifa wa Afrika wa Zimbabwe, au ZANU-PF. - ZANU-PF inaonyesha udhibiti chini ya uchaguzi na udhibiti wa siri. Katika mfumo huu, Mugabe alitumia upendeleo wakati akidumisha umaarufu na ofisi yake na uchaguzi wenye utata wakati wagombea kutoka vyama vya upinzani kwa kawaida wanadhibitiwa na ZANU-PF moja kwa moja na kwa njia isiyo ya moja kwa moja. Mugabe alishinda mashambulizi ya kuondoa upinzani na vitisho vya utawala wake hadi rais wa sasa Emmerson Mnangagwa alipomrithi baada ya kifo chake mwaka 2010. Licha ya mwanzo mzuri, demokrasia ya Zimbabwe bado ina matatizo ya ufisadi, kurudi nyuma kwa demokrasia, kukandamiza haki za kiraia na kisiasa, madeni ya kudumu na mfumuko wa bei, na utawala wa muda mrefu wa rais Robert Mugabe. Kulingana na Masunungure, mwandishi wa <unk>Zimbabwe's Trajectory: Stepping Forward or Sliding Back,<unk> anaelezea mtazamo wa raia wa nasibu tangu uhuru. <unk>Wakati wa uhuru, nchi hiyo ilijitolea kwa fahari baada ya miongo moja na nusu ya kutengwa na kimataifa na vikwazo vikubwa, vya lazima. Ilikuwa wakati wa shangwe ingawa ishara za uharibifu zilikuwa tayari zimeanza kuonekana mwishoni mwa mwongo huo. Muongo wa pili ulikuwa wa mpito katika nyanja zote mbili za kijamii-kiuchumi na kisiasa. "Hiyo ilikuwa muongo uliounganisha muongo wa kwanza wa mwelekeo mzuri na miongo miwili ya mwisho ya kupungua kwa uzito, na kuongoza kwa kuzaliwa na kuenea kwa mashirika ya kiraia yanayopigania demokrasia ya agora ya kisiasa na mifumo ya utawala. "" (Masungura, 2020) "" Maelezo yanaongeza mtazamo wa wazi wa kuanzisha hatua kwa jamii ya baada ya Mugabe ambapo anajadili wazo la ""jimbo lililoshindwa"" kama huduma iliyoshindwa ambayo ilichangia mzunguko mbaya wa mamlaka ya uchaguzi kutoka kwa serikali." Ukosefu wa usawa wa kiuchumi ulisababisha nchi hiyo kupitisha sarafu kadhaa za kigeni kutoka ulimwenguni kote. Hii ilisababisha fedha yake mwenyewe kuwa haina thamani kwani ilikopa na kuchapisha pesa mara kwa mara kutoka kwa maendeleo ya ndani na uhamaji wa kijamii wa raia wake. "Swali moja linapinga madai haya: ""Ikiwa demokrasia nyingine zilipata matukio kama hayo, Zimbabwe inaweza kujifunza nini kutoka kwao?""" Masomo haya yanawezaje kuboresha huduma za serikali? Katika Afrika, mataifa ya Botswana, Rwanda, na Afrika Kusini yalikabili hali kama hizo. Leo wana jamii yenye mafanikio kama mojawapo ya mataifa yaliyoendelea zaidi na yasiyo na pwani ya Afrika yenye kiwango cha juu cha maisha, pato la ndani la jumla, na maendeleo ya kibinadamu kuliko majirani zao. Kwa mujibu wa Rwanda, Afrika Kusini na Botswana, nchi hizo zilikuwa na utawala mzuri wa kisiasa, ujenzi wa serikali ya kidemokrasia na amani, na uboreshaji wa uchumi. Mtu anaweza kusema kwamba ustawi wa taifa ni mchanganyiko wa mambo yaliyotajwa hapo juu na mwendo wa raia wake kufanya mabadiliko ya kijamii katika jamii ya taifa lao. Hoja ya kihistoria katika suala hili pia inakuja kutoka Mwanaka kama alivyoelezea kipengele cha kiuchumi cha sekta ya kilimo. Anaelezea kuanguka kwa sekta hiyo kama sifa ya kutokuunganishwa kwa uchumi kwa ujumla na sera ya Zimbabwe ya mipango ya usambazaji upya wa ardhi. Kati ya mwaka 2000 na 2002, takriban hekta milioni 11 zilichukuliwa kutoka kwa wakulima weupe 4,000 na kusambazwa kwa takriban familia 127,500 za wakulima wadogo na wakulima wa biashara weusi 7,200, na mashamba haya yalibaki bila kutumiwa kwa miaka 15. Wale wanaojitahidi kufanya kitu katika mashamba haya wanazalisha kidogo sana kuwakilisha kiasi kikubwa cha Pato la Taifa la uchumi. """Tumekuwa katika nafasi ya kwanza katika kilimo cha tumbaku, ambayo ilikuwa ni kipato chetu kikubwa cha kigeni cha kilimo, lakini tumeshuka sana." """Nimeambiwa na watu wa ndani kwamba hata makampuni ya tumbaku nchini Zimbabwe hayatumi tumbaku tunayozalisha kwa sababu ni ya ubora wa chini." "Wanachagua kuagiza tumbaku kutoka Brazil kwa $ 3 kwa kilo kuliko kununua tumbaku ya ubora wa chini kutoka kwa wakulima wapya ambao wanapata $ 4 kwa kilo. "" (Mwanaka, 2020) Sera hii ni tofauti kabisa na mazoea ya mataifa yenye mafanikio zaidi duniani kama sheria na kanuni kama vile mali binafsi, uhuru wa kufanya biashara, kupunguza kanuni za uburudishaji, na kujenga imani ya ndani ili kuzalisha ukuaji wa kiuchumi na kijamii." Matokeo ya mpango huu yanapaswa kutumika kama somo juu ya hasara za kushindwa kushughulikia masuala ya ndani katika wigo mkubwa wa kimataifa na serikali. "Kuhusu hali ya demokrasia, mwandishi wa kitabu ""Zimbabwe: Urgency of Now"" alisisitiza kukata tamaa kwa watu kutoka kwa mtazamo wake mwenyewe." <unk>Kushiriki katika demokrasia inahitaji kuweka maisha ya mtu na imani juu ya imani nzuri ya wengine.. Hii ni nini tumekuwa staking maisha yetu na imani juu ya, imani nzuri ya ZANU-PF. Kila mara, imani yetu hupigwa miguu. """Kila wakati tunapokwenda kwenye uchaguzi huu na imani na matumaini makubwa kwamba tutafanya uchaguzi huru na wa haki, na kila wakati tumekuwa tukilia, bei ya uhuru si ya bei rahisi, na hakuna bei ya ujinga wa hatia." "Mwanaka, ambaye aliandika kitabu chake cha ""Mwanaka: The Frustration and Disappointment of a Compromised Democracy,"" alisema kuwa ""mwisho wa uchaguzi ni kupotea.""" Kitabu hicho kina sauti ya kuunganisha zaidi sawa na kitabu cha Dk King, "Where Do We Go From Now?" ambacho kilisukuma suala la ushiriki wa kidemokrasia na kiraia kutoka kwa raia kwa ujumla. Mwanaka alielezea uhusiano huu usiofaa katikati ya mapungufu ya kidemokrasia na maumivu ya kukua kama vile kanuni za kidemokrasia kama ushiriki, harakati, jamii ya kiraia, uhuru wa kibinafsi, na uwajibikaji kwa umma. Mnangagwa alishinda kura za wapiga kura wa chama cha ZANU-PF katika uchaguzi wa mwaka 2018 na kupata asilimia 69 ya viti 210 vya bunge, na Tume ya Uchaguzi ya Zimbabwe (ZEC) ilitangaza Mnangagwa ameshinda wapiga kura wengine 22 na kupata asilimia 50.8 ya kura. "Mkutano mkuu wa upinzani, MDC-A, ulipinga matokeo ya uchaguzi huo ambayo baadaye yaliidhinishwa na Mahakama ya Katiba. "" (Masunungure, 2020) Matokeo ya mfumo huu katika sasa ni changamoto kwa dhana ya udhibiti wa utawala wa Mugabe kama utekelezaji wa katiba hutumika kama mpinzani kwa kuonyesha upinzani wa mfumo wake wa kisiasa na uharibifu wa baadaye unaoweza kuonekana katika nchi nyingine kama vile Marekani, Ulaya, au majirani zake." Ni muhimu kujua kwamba mahakama ni sababu ya kuendesha mbele ya kushinikiza serikali kupitisha mageuzi katika siku zijazo au kuruhusu jamii ya kiraia kubadilisha mazingira ya kisiasa. Kama kushindwa kwa huduma za serikali ni sababu ya kizuizi cha demokrasia, inawezekana pia kuelewa kwamba kuhakikisha uhuru wa kibinafsi, haki za biashara, mageuzi ya kiraia, na jamii ya kiraia yenye bidii ni muhimu kulinda na kuboresha hali ya demokrasia. """Chini ya mfumo huu, kuna fursa zaidi ya umoja wa ndani badala ya uingiliaji wa kigeni ambao umekuwa ukifanywa nchini Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Sudan katika miongo ya awali." Zimbabwe inaonyesha kuwa taifa linaweza kuwepo kati ya kushindwa na mafanikio wakati linapojitahidi kukua na kukabiliana na nyakati za kisasa. Hakuna kukataa kwamba demokrasia ni taasisi ambazo daima zitakabiliwa na changamoto kwa muda. Hata hivyo, tofauti kati ya demokrasia zilizofanikiwa na zilizoshindwa ni ndogo kuliko ilivyo kwenye ripoti za habari. Kwa nchi kama Zimbabwe, hali hiyo inatoa fursa ambayo inaweza kushughulikiwa kupitia mchanganyiko wa mageuzi yaliyokusudiwa na yaliyofanywa vizuri. Sehemu muhimu zaidi ya fumbo hili la mithali iko katika mapenzi ya kisiasa kati ya serikali na watu wake. Matokeo ya mageuzi ya asili hii ni ngumu mwanzoni mpaka mfano wa kawaida unahimiza mabadiliko katika miongo inayofuata. Hannah Baron, Robert A. Blair, Jessica Gottlieb, na Shelby Grossman. Mwaka wa 2019. Katika Finkel, Eugene, Adria Lawrence na Andrew Mertha (eds.). Marekani katika mtazamo wa kulinganisha. "Kulingana na jarida la ""Organized Section in Comparative Politics of the American Political Science Association"" (Sehemu ya Mfano wa Sera ya Sera ya Sera ya Sera ya Sera ya Sera ya Sera ya Sera ya Sera ya Sera ya Sera ya Sera ya Sera) (Sehemu ya 1)"