Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T00:28:17.431Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

3 - Emergency Politics

Cholera as a National Disaster

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 January 2020

Simukai Chigudu
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
Get access

Summary

This chapter explores the manifold ways in which the cholera epidemic became a terrain of polarised political struggles at national and international levels in the areas of humanitarianism, security and governance. This polarisation reached extreme levels. On one hand, the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), along with prominent outside observers – including the International Crisis Group and a high-level panel convened by Physicians for Human Rights – described cholera as the result of ‘the systematic violation of a wide range of human rights’ and evidence of a ‘failing’ state under the stewardship of the ruling party, ZANU(PF). By contrast, elements of the Zimbabwean government decried the outbreak as racist ‘biological warfare’ from the West intended to bring about regime change. Through the allocation of culpability for the cholera outbreak, I argue that a more fundamental political debate about power and legitimacy to govern was taking place as evidenced by international accusations of ‘state failure’ vis-à-vis nationalist claims to ‘state sovereignty’. Furthermore, I argue that this polarisation was deleterious in the extreme because it delayed the humanitarian relief effort, promoted non-engagement between the Zimbabwean and Western governments, and narrowed down the avenues for third-party diplomatic mediation.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Political Life of an Epidemic
Cholera, Crisis and Citizenship in Zimbabwe
, pp. 93 - 122
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • Emergency Politics
  • Simukai Chigudu, University of Oxford
  • Book: The Political Life of an Epidemic
  • Online publication: 10 January 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108773928.005
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Emergency Politics
  • Simukai Chigudu, University of Oxford
  • Book: The Political Life of an Epidemic
  • Online publication: 10 January 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108773928.005
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Emergency Politics
  • Simukai Chigudu, University of Oxford
  • Book: The Political Life of an Epidemic
  • Online publication: 10 January 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108773928.005
Available formats
×