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Studies in National and International Development (SNID) Presents: Gerald Chikozho Mazarire, Midlands State University

The Elephant in the Room: Zimbabwe ¹ú²ú´«Ã½ ’s Interregnum and Its Build Up (2017-2018): A Historian ¹ú²ú´«Ã½ ’s TakeZimbabwe has been in a state of anxiety for the past year in what seemed to be the promise of a transition from a dictatorship to a democratic order. Indeed, the ‘New Dispensation’ that began as an aspiration following the deposition of Robert Mugabe in November 2017 is slowly becoming an illusion as the different perspectives of a new Zimbabwe have been viciously fought out by various forces since then. The litmus test of Zimbabweans’ commitment to such a transition, the July 30 2018 election, has predictably produced a disputed outcome. A groundswell of emotions erupted in post-election violence that have ripped the nation apart. This paper offers a historical view of the process leading to the current stalemate in Zimbabwean politics tracing the roots of the country ¹ú²ú´«Ã½ ’s political culture to the strategies and tactics employed by ZANU PF in general and Robert Mugabe in particular to maintain a stranglehold on power for almost four decades. 

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