Zimbabwe: The coup that never was, and the election that could have been

Beardsworth, Nicole; Cheeseman, Nic; Tinhu, Simukai

doi:10.1093/afraf/adz009

Cited by 41 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…State repression receded between 2008 and 2018, and ZANU-PF won large parliamentary majorities in elections in 2013 and 2018 without widespread pre-election violence. However, the 2018 elections ushered in a third phase of active repression, as a new, less adept ZANU-PF president who came into power in a 2017 military coup has relied heavily on the security forces to quash post-election and economic protests (Beardsworth et al, 2019).…”

Section: The Zimbabwean Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mobilization Under Threat: Emotional Appeals and Pro-Opposition Political Participation Online

Young

2021

Polit Behav

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Large numbers of people living under authoritarian governments participate in pro-opposition politics despite sometimes significant risks. Increasing amounts of this political participation are taking place and being organized online. Do emotions play a causal role in inducing pro-opposition participation in authoritarian regimes? Can emotions that mobilize participation be spread via social media? Through an experiment carried out by an opposition party in Zimbabwe, I test whether campaign appeals to opposition supporters’ emotions affect their level of political participation in online pro-opposition discussions. I find that across two different issue areas, randomly assigned anger appeals increase participation on average by 0.4 standard deviations more than enthusiasm appeals with the same informational content. In real terms, this represents between 30% and 170% more participation in the groups assigned to the anger appeals across four different measures of participation. There is little evidence that these effects are stronger in areas with less poverty or that have historically been affected by more violence, or when coupled with messages emphasizing personal power. These results suggest that anger appeals that highlight economic grievances can be an important force for mobilizing online political participation in repressive environments.

show abstract

Section: The Zimbabwean Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mobilization Under Threat: Emotional Appeals and Pro-Opposition Political Participation Online

Young

2021

Polit Behav

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This literature has diverse empirical foci in examining the MDC party, including its successive electoral failures, its involvement in consociation-type politics during the Inclusive Government (IG) era (2009–2013) and its internal democratic deficits. Similarly, there is some emerging and significant research on post-2017 politics in Zimbabwe (Beardsworth et al, 2019; Hodgkinson, 2013; Lewanika, 2019; Tendi, 2020a). However, this corpus of literature does not focus on Nelson Chamisa’s MDC during and post the November 2017 transition.…”

Section: Party Leadershipmentioning

confidence: 99%

Movement for Democratic Change and the Rise of Nelson Chamisa

Mwonzora

Hodzi

2021

Journal of Asian and African Studies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Nelson Chamisa is central to the political terrain of contemporary Zimbabwe. Post the soft coup of November 2017 and the death of Morgan Tsvangirai in early 2018, Chamisa became president of the Movement for Democratic Change party and contested the July 2018 presidential election. The tempo of changes in the Movement for Democratic Change presidency is not related directly to the shift from Mugabe to Mnangagwa. However, broader politics formed an important context for Chamisa’s contested claim for the Movement for Democratic Change presidency. In examining Chamisa and the Movement for Democratic Change, the article highlights linkages between personality politics and electoral mobilization, and how this relates to political party institutionalization.

show abstract

“…Parliament did not have long to debate the legality of impeachment, however, as Mugabe resigned in the early evening. As Speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda read out the letter of resignation, Zimbabwe’s ‘soft coup’ (Beardsworth et al, 2019) came to an end.…”

Section: A Judicious Coup?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…From General Chiwenga’s statement on 13 November, to Judge President Chiweshe’s rulings on 24 November, references to law and justice, and debates over legality and independence were central components of the coup. Beardsworth et al (2019) have argued that this was mainly for the benefit of allowing Zimbabwe to open itself up to the international business community. Indeed, the dominant slogan Mnangagwa promoted was ‘Zimbabwe is open for business’.…”

Section: A Judicious Coup?mentioning

confidence: 99%

From ‘Defending Sovereignty’ to ‘Fighting Corruption’: The Political Place of Law in Zimbabwe After November 2017

Verheul

2021

Journal of Asian and African Studies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this article, I examine the shifting language of debates over law and justice in Zimbabwe in the run-up to, and following, the November 2017 coup. I argue that the rhetoric Zimbabwe African National Union–Patriotic Front (ZANU–PF) drew upon to secure its authority and negotiate legitimacy through law, shifted from a focus of ‘sovereignty’ and ‘protection’, to one of battling ‘corruption’ and ‘criminality’. At the same time, there remained a consistency in the manner that the legal system was used to target a select part of the country’s population, those opposed to ZANU–PF and its vision for the future.

show abstract

Zimbabwe: The coup that never was, and the election that could have been

Cited by 41 publications

References 0 publications

Mobilization Under Threat: Emotional Appeals and Pro-Opposition Political Participation Online

Mobilization Under Threat: Emotional Appeals and Pro-Opposition Political Participation Online

Movement for Democratic Change and the Rise of Nelson Chamisa

From ‘Defending Sovereignty’ to ‘Fighting Corruption’: The Political Place of Law in Zimbabwe After November 2017

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About