scholarly journals ZIMBABWE: THE ETHNICISATION OF ZANU AND THE DOWNFALL OF NDABANINGI SITHOLE (1963-2000)

2021 ◽  
Vol 35 ◽  
pp. 37-50
Author(s):  
Owen MANGIZA ◽  
Ishmael MAZAMBANI
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
Leadership Positions ◽  
Nationalist Movement ◽  
Political Interests ◽  
Party Members ◽  
Liberation Struggle ◽  
Robert Mugabe

"This article is an exposition of the transformation of ZANU from being, primarily, a nationalist movement into an ethnic oriented party. Since its formation in 1963, ZANU was gripped by ethnicity, resulting in factions and contestations developing among party members. These contestations developed into open conflicts along tribal lines. The paper argues that ethnicity was so acute among ZANU party members to an extent that divisions were clearly drawn along the Shona sub-ethnic groups of Manyika (easterners), Karanga (southerners), and Zezuru (northerners). The competition for leadership positions and the fighting among members of these ethnic groups resulted in the death of some members of the party and the expulsion of others from the party. It is argued in the article that the persecution of Ndabaningi Sithole and his fallout as the ZANU president was a result of the ethnicisation of ZANU and the liberation struggle. The removal of Sithole as the party president and his replacement by Robert Mugabe exhibits these contestations among the Zezuru, Karanga and Manyika ethnic groups. We argue that the deposition of Sithole from ZANU in 1975 and his castigation as a “sell-out” and “tribalist” was a ploy by Robert Mugabe and other ZANU leaders to get rid of him and to replace him along ethnic grounds. The ethnic card was deployed to serve selfish political interests. It is these ethnic contestations and fighting which also brewed conflict and enmity between Mugabe in particular and Ndabaningi Sithole, among other factors. This hatred was clearly displayed later in the struggle for supremacy between Sithole’s new party, ZANU-Ndonga and Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF. It is stressed in the article that this enmity also culminated in the denial of a hero status to Sithole when he died in 2000. We also argue that the deposition of Sithole from ZANU is one of the reasons why the Ndau people of Chipinge always voted for him and not Robert Mugabe in elections. Keywords: Zimbabwe, Ethnicisation, Downfall, Contestations, ZANU, Hero status."

scholarly journals The motivations and dynamics of Zimbabwe’s 2017 military coup

2019 ◽  
Vol 119 (474) ◽  
pp. 39-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Blessing-Miles Tendi
Keyword(s):  
Air Force ◽  
Military Coup ◽  
War Veterans ◽  
National Union ◽  
Military Action ◽  
Political Beliefs ◽  
Game Theoretic ◽  
Party Members ◽  
Liberation Struggle ◽  
Robert Mugabe

ABSTRACT Robert Mugabe resigned as Zimbabwe’s president in November 2017, following a military action called Operation Restore Legacy. This article examines the motivations and dynamics of Operation Restore Legacy, which it characterizes as a coup by military generals that had significant commonalities with historical coups in Africa. This characterization, which is informed by the accounts of coup participants and a reading of the literature, challenges interpretations of the coup as ‘a non-coup-coup’, ‘very Zimbabwean’, or ‘special’. The article argues that the coup was a vote of no confidence in Mugabe’s leadership, which succeeded because soldiers from Zimbabwe’s 1970s independence war subscribed to the coup’s stated ideal to restore liberation struggle principles in the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front party as well as party members who had been sidelined. Liberation war veterans held decisive army and air force command posts when the coup occurred. The article’s emphasis on liberation struggle principles as a crucial determinant of the coup’s success is a counterpoint to game theoretic approaches to coup dynamics that disregard political beliefs as a consequential factor in the realization of coups. In respect of motivations, the article advances interrelating motives and contends that the coup’s catalyst was Mugabe’s refusal to meet his generals on 13 November 2017, for vital talks on widening differences between both parties. Sealing off dialogue catalyzed the coup.

scholarly journals Refractory Frontier: Intra-party Democracy in the Zambian Polity

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 7
Author(s):  
John Bwalya ◽  
Owen B. Sichone
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Party ◽  
National Development ◽  
Democratic Consolidation ◽  
Third Wave ◽  
Leadership Positions ◽  
Leadership Transitions ◽  
Party Members ◽  
Selection Of

Despite the important role that intra-party democracy plays in democratic consolidation, particularly in third-wave democracies, it has not received as much attention as inter-party democracy. Based on the Zambian polity, this article uses the concept of selectocracy to explain why, to a large extent, intra-party democracy has remained a refractory frontier. Two traits of intra-party democracy are examined: leadership transitions at party president-level and the selection of political party members for key leadership positions. The present study of four political parties: United National Independence Party (UNIP), Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD), United Party for National Development (UPND) and Patriotic Front (PF) demonstrates that the iron law of oligarchy predominates leadership transitions and selection. Within this milieu, intertwined but fluid factors, inimical to democratic consolidation but underpinning selectocracy, are explained.

The Rise of the Russian Khalifat: The View from the Jihadist Side

2010 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dmitry Shlapentokh
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
North Caucasus ◽  
Muslim Identity ◽  
Modus Operandi ◽  
The Caucasus ◽  
Nationalist Movement ◽  
Ideal Society ◽  
The North ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
The Ideal

AbstractRussia, similar to many other parts of the globe, continues to be affected by terrorism, mostly since the beginning of the conflicts in the Caucasus. While started by the Chechens after the beginning of the First Chechen War (1994-1996), terrorism and resistance to Moscow in general soon moved outside Chechen borders, absorbing representatives from other ethnic groups of the Caucasus and beyond. As a result, what originally had been mostly a Chechen nationalist movement finally transformed itself into a multi-ethnic force where the liberation of Chechnya from Russian rule became just one aspect of the struggle. Moreover, nationalist-minded Chechens seemed to have moved to the margins of the resistance, for increasing numbers of the resistance members could well go to the official Chechen leadership. While nationalistic and, in a way, a moderate model of the Chechen resistance became increasingly unworkable, jihadism provided an increasingly acceptable modus operandi. To start with, jihadism emphasises an ideological, Muslim identity and discards any sense of ethnicity, nationalism in general, that separates Muslims from each other. Secondly, jihadism promulgates the creation of a universal Khalifat as the final goal. Khalifat is seen as the ideal society, in a way similar to that of the “thousand-year rule of Christ” and/or communism, each of which actually transcends history as it is known. All of this has led to the increasing influence of jihadists among the members of the Chechen resistance, and a final split between them and the nationalist-minded members of the resistance. This paper presents a detailed analytic account of the recent developments within the Chechen resistance, as well as the jihadist ideology, and terrorism in the North Caucasus and Russia in general.

scholarly journals Ethnic Conflict between the Muslims and Christians in Nigeria: The Dilemma of Decision-Making of the Political Elites

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ray Ikechukwu Jacob
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
Ethnic Conflict ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Political Class ◽  
Unequal Distribution ◽  
Economic Implications ◽  
Political Interests ◽  
Distribution Of Resources

This paper examines how ethnic conflict occurred as a result of actions or decisions made by either local  government, state or federal government in Nigeria. Ethnic conflict can be triggered due to various factors, such geographical proximity, group identity, deliberate manipulation of negative perceptions by political leaders, competition of resources, weakness of political institution transitions to democracy, and etc. However, the main focus of this paper is the implementation of Shari’a law in the Northern Nigeria and how the decisions and the implementations have led to blood-shed conflicts in the country. In general, a number of blood-shed events that occurred in Nigeria are also due to the process of decision-making by the political elites that could not fulfil the requirements of the respective ethnic groups. The implications had been overwhelmingly devastating in the country. Uncountable lives were lost via mayhem and blood-shed wars. Homes, shops and properties were destroyed. The economic implications of ethnic conflict have resulted in unequal distribution of resources among individual, groups and regions within the country. The growing economic disparities may increase the fear of those ethnic groups that are disadvantaged; this has warranted that the ignorant masses are often being remote and mobilized by the political class to engage in religious crisis in order to achieve their selfish political interests. In the same vein, similar ethnic based political movements have arisen in Nigeria. Therefore, decision-making is one source that could lead to ethnic conflict in a multi-cultural and ethnic country like Nigeria. Decision-making approach was used to examine the scene of conflict by focusing only on the religious conflict between Muslims and Christians in the country.

scholarly journals Contesting the Past: Narratives of Trinidad & Tobago history

2008 ◽  
Vol 81 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 169-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bridget Brereton
Keyword(s):  
Trinidad And Tobago ◽  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
Public History ◽  
Historical Narrative ◽  
Historical Narratives ◽  
Master Narrative ◽  
National Narratives ◽  
Colonial Era ◽  
Nationalist Movement ◽  
The Past

Discusses the national narratives developed historically in Trinidad and Tobago. Author describes how the past has been interpreted differently, for different purposes, and by different ethnic groups. She first pays attention to 2 hegemonic historical narratives during the colonial era: the British imperial historical narrative and the French Creole one, associated with political and/or planter elites. Next, she discusses how since the mid-20th c. the anticolonial, nationalist movement responded to this, including academics, resulting in the Eric Williams-led Afro-Creole narrative, dominant in the decades since the 1961 independence, connecting Trinidad as a nation with African-descended Creoles. Further, she highlights challenges to the dominant Afro-Creole narrative, mainly since the 1970s, emerging partly in the domain of "public history", and mostly ethnicity-based. She discusses the politics of (Amerindian) indigeneity in Trinidad, the Tobago narrative, related to its distinct history, the Afrocentric narrative, and the Indocentric narrative, the latter including a more recent extreme Hinducentric narrative. Author points out that the Afro-Creole master narrative, and subsequent (ethnic) counternarratives eclipsed (at least academically) increasing class-based, or gendered historical narratives.

Proxy president may mean inefficient policy in Myanmar

2016 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
National Government ◽  
Vice Presidents ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Presidential Politics ◽  
Political Interests ◽  
National League ◽  
The Military ◽  
Made In ◽  
Regulatory Reforms

Subject Myanmar presidential politics and the outlook for the transfer of power. Significance On March 10, nominations will be made in the Union parliament for Myanmar's next president and two vice presidents. Following this, the National League for Democracy (NLD) will assume the national government. Impacts The prospect of two presidential successions before 2020 may constrain regulatory reforms and worry investors. The NLD may put a Suu Kyi presidency ahead of ethnic peace, inadvertently alienating ethnic groups. The military will push back against any attempts to undermine its economic or political interests.

Ist der Mitgliederschwund der Parteien wirklich irreversibel? Überlegungen zur Rekrutierungs- und Repräsentationsfähigkeit von Parteien

2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 212-231
Author(s):  
Ingrid Reichart-Dreyer
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Political Leadership ◽  
Parliamentary Democracy ◽  
Organisational Structure ◽  
Leadership Positions ◽  
The People ◽  
Party Members ◽  
City States ◽  
Different Levels

Parties link the society with the state . It is their task to recruit members, integrate and train them for taking over leadership positions at different levels . Since 1990 the parties in (unified) Germany lose members . Does this prevent them from fulfilling their functions for the parliamentary democracy? The analysis detects differences between the Länder: Indeed, the capability of parties to recruit members increases with the number of officeholders in local and regional councils and state parliaments . Big cities and the so-called city-states (Berlin, Hamburg and Bremen) reduce the chances for political participation . Where the organisational structure of public administration was reformed the number of local and regional councillors sank and - with some delay - also the number of party members . Are the remarkable differences in the capability of the parties to recruit members a reflection of their internal organisation? Do the structures that are formally laid down in the party statutes influence how opinions are formed and majorities are found? How does the linkage between officeholders and their party - which is necessary for political leadership - work? Do the parties communicate to the people why it pays to get engaged? The differences found between the parties indicate how the capacity for recruiting members can be improved .

Ndlovu-Gatsheni, Sabelo J. (ed), Mugabeism? History, Politics, and Power in Zimbabwe. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015, 319pp.

2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zefanias Matsimbe
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Modus Operandi ◽  
Strategic Review ◽  
History Of ◽  
Contested Meanings ◽  
Liberation Struggle ◽  
Robert Mugabe

This is an 'all in one' kind of book about the history, politics, and economy of Zimbabwe from the liberation struggle on. The book is about Robert Mugabe and his Mugabeism, or what Mugabe 'says' he is and what he Strategic Review for Southern Africa, Vol 38, No 2 Book Reviews 174 'exactly is'. It responds to the lack of biographies on Mugabe who is the oldest and the longest serving post-independence African statesman, the man whose life has been dominated by secrecy, rumours and gossip. The book consists of several essays written by scholars from different disciplines, trying to make sense of Mugabe by exploring the various, contested meanings of the Mugabe phenomenon, his thinking, his feeling and his modus operandi. With convincing arguments, the book shows how the life of Mugabe is intrinsically linked to the history of Zimbabwe and ZANU-PF. The book reveals the great secret of how Mugabe has survived internal and external challenges and pressures.

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