2015
DOI: 10.1017/s0022278x14000640
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The battle for Zimbabwe in 2013: from polarisation to ambivalence

Abstract: On the face of it, the triumph of Robert Mugabe and ZANU(PF) in the 2013 elections came as a shock, not least to opposition MDC activists. However, after a period of introspection, many have begun to construct a coherent and wide-ranging account of the result which explores opposition shortcomings, and the revived relationship between the electorate and Mugabe's ZANU(PF). This article, based on interviews with political activists conducted three months after the election, outlines and attempts to explain this … Show more

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Cited by 23 publications
(2 citation statements)
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“…Zimbabwe's post-2013 moment of ambiguity regarding its political context (Gallagher, 2015) lends weight to the importance of studying relatively non-political and technical modes of 'intellectual leadership' and inter-class co-operation. By mid-2013 formerly trade union, student, and liberal profession-based urban, social and more explicitly political movements appeared to have failed to dislodge the ruling party and its socio-economic base (Moore, 2014).…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Zimbabwe's post-2013 moment of ambiguity regarding its political context (Gallagher, 2015) lends weight to the importance of studying relatively non-political and technical modes of 'intellectual leadership' and inter-class co-operation. By mid-2013 formerly trade union, student, and liberal profession-based urban, social and more explicitly political movements appeared to have failed to dislodge the ruling party and its socio-economic base (Moore, 2014).…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“… 14. I have argued elsewhere that the ambiguity of Zimbabwean self-understanding was played out in the 2013 elections, in which Mugabe and ZANU(PF) won a landslide majority. Where electoral politics was once a polarised game between political parties that appeared to represent unambiguously distinct programmes and visions of Zimbabwe, the return of many thousands of voters to ZANU(PF), including in Matabeleland, which has steadfastly supported opposition parties since independence, demonstrates an ambivalence towards the ruling party, the state and the country that encompasses an acknowledgement of the outrages and frailties of each alongside a sense of belief in the ruling party to represent authentic Zimbabweanness (Gallagher, 2015). …”
mentioning
confidence: 99%