Vimbai Chaumba Kwashirai explores the history and significance of election violence in Zimbabwe from the 1980s to the present day. Examining both overt and covert forms of violence, Kwashirai considers how violence can be understood and addresses wider questions about democracy and electoral freedom across the African continent.
The ramifications of election violence in Zimbabwe are huge and ongoing, and the loss of lives in the quest for democratic rights might be regarded as the foremost tragedy of post-colonial Zimbabwe. In this book, Vimbai Chaumba Kwashirai examines the prevalence of electoral violence in Zimbabwe from the early 1980s to the present day. With a range of rich examples, Kwashirai offers a nuanced analysis of the overt and covert forms of violence that have pervaded the country's general elections. While remaining attentive to the specifics of the Zimbabwean political landscape, Kwashirai addresses broader debates in African politics, and shows how insidious violence, ethnic tensions and the weakness of opposition parties serve to undermine democracy across Africa. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, he explores the various ways in which violence can be understood and, crucially, how it might be prevented.
Arvustused
'This meticulous and compelling analysis reveals the Zimbabwean government's violent manipulation of its democratic structures under Robert Mugabe, whose status of heroic liberator was subsumed by that of brutal oppressor. It is troubling but essential reading for both generalists and specialists.' Anne Digby, Oxford Brookes University 'This book provides for the first time a detailed and comprehensive analysis of all elections in Zimbabwe since the country's independence in 1980. It shows convincingly how the Mugabe regime used politically motivated violence to cling to power. At the same time terror eroded what was left of its democratic legitimation.' Rita Schaefer, Author of In the Shadow of Apartheid 'A courageous, detailed and stimulating historical account of election violence in Zimbabwe. Of special merit is Kwashirai's bravery to tackle one of the hottest and riskiest subjects in Zimbabwe's political terrain. This book is a must-read for everyone fighting for a violence-free democratic world!' Takesure Taringana, University of Zimbabwe 'Recommended.' J. C. Hickman, Choice
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Explores the history and significance of election violence in Zimbabwe from the 1980s to the present day.
Part I. Violence a Colonial Curse: The 1980 General Elections; Part
II. Zanu PF and PF Zapu Violence: The 1985 General Elections; Part III. New
Enemy in the 1990 Elections was Zum; Part IV. Zanu PF on Zanu PF Violence in
1995; Part V. What Presidential Election in 1996?; Part VI. The Movement for
Democratic Change was Number 1 Enemy in 2000; Part VII. Presidential Election
in 2002; Part VIII. What General Elections in 2005?; Part IX. Disharmony in
the 2008 Harmonised Elections; Part X. Violence in the 2013 Elections.
Vimbai Chaumba Kwashirai is Professor of Economic and Environmental History and Marie Curie Research Fellow at Basel University, Switzerland, and an Associate at the University of Zimbabwe and the Rachel Carson Center, Ludwig Maximilian University, Germany. His research concerns the interface of human economic, ecological and political activities, specifically in modern Zimbabwe, and Africa more generally. He is the recipient of ten prestigious research awards, including the Carson, Humboldt and Leverhulme Fellowships. He has previously published Green Colonialism in Zimbabwe, 1890-1980 (2009) and Zimbabwe: Poverty, Poverty, and Poverty (2010).
