Case Study: Zimbabwe David Monyae 1 Introduction The most notable feature of recent commentary and analysis on the crisis in Zimbabwe is the widespread sense of optimism, that the removal of President Robert Mugabe and his cronies in Zanu PF will in itself promote and consolidate democracy. In a recent South African daily newspaper article, Paul Moorcraft, the director of the Centre for Foreign Policy Analysis in London, wrote: I interviewed Mugabe at length for Time magazine when he frst returned to the then Salisbury in January 1980. After the dullards in the Rhodesian Front, it was a breath of fresh air to talk to such an intelligent, articulate man. Above all, I believed his sincerity about racial reconciliation. So how did he become a monster? 2 At the heart of the crisis in Zimbabwe as clearly demonstrated by Paul Moorcraft lies the notion that; to quote from Doh Chull Shin: The promotion of the democratization process, no longer seen as a result or product of higher levels of moderniza- tion, illustrated by its [country’s] wealth, bourgeois class structure, tolerant cultural values, and economic independ- ence from external actors. Instead, it is seen more as a product of strategic interaction and arrangements among Chapter 8 1 I would like to thank Dr. John Hinshaw at Lebanon Valley College in the U.S. for his comments and support. He deserve my thanks, even as he is exempt from responsibility for any errors of fact or insuffcient political sagacity on my part. 2 Moorcraft, Paul, “Passing Parade in Havana, Harare,” Business Day, Wednesday, August 16 2006, p. 13.