Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T11:06:41.217Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

International Politics and National Liberation: ZANU and the Politics Of Contested Sovereignty In Zimbabwe1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 May 2014

Extract

Since its independence in 1980, Zimbabwe has emerged as one of the principal forces in African international relations. Harare, the capital, has emerged as a major diplomatic center and Zimbabwe has served in major leadership positions, both at the United Nations, where, only two years after independence it was unanimously elected to the Security Council, and in the Non-Aligned Movement, which Zimbabwe was selected to chair in 1986. In this capacity, and as a member of the Commonwealth, Zimbabwe actively participated in the decolonization of Namibia and has actively lobbied the international community for comprehensive sanctions against South Africa.

Unlike other newly independent states in Africa, the government of Robert Mugabe brought with it a long heritage of activity in international affairs. This pattern of international activity by Mugabe's party, the Zimbabwe African National Union (Patriotic Front)— commonly referred to as ZANU(PF)—grew out of its pursuit of a protracted, mass-based, and internationally supported armed struggle for independence. Thus, to understand the foreign policy of Zimbabwe, it is necessary to examine the international activities of ZANU prior to independence, when it was a liberation movement. It is precisely this link between liberation movements, sovereignty and foreign policy which is the focus of this study. Such an approach not only enables us to expand our notion of sovereignty, but also enables us to develop new approaches to the comparative study of African and third world foreign policy.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1993

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.)

Footnotes

1

I am grateful for the generous support which I have received from Wabash College for the preparation of this study; the diligent research assistance of Kurshaid Alam, and the helpful comments of Melissa A. Butler and the anonomous reviewers from this journal.

References

Africa Contemporary Record. Various years. New York: Holmes and Meier.Google Scholar
Baumhogger, C. ed. 1984. The Struggle for Independence: Documents on the Recent Development of Zimbabwe (1975-1980), vols. 1-7. Hamburg: Institute of African Studies, Africa Documentation Center.Google Scholar
Black, George. 1981. Triumph of the People: The Sandinista Revolution in Nicaragua. London: Zed Press.Google Scholar
Brownlee, Ian. 1979. Principles of Public International Law, 3rd Edition. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Bull, Hedley. 1977. The Anarchical Society: A Study of Order in World Politics. London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Chapman, William. 1987. Inside the Philippine Revolution: The New People's Army and Its Struggle for Power. New York: W.W. Norton.Google Scholar
Charlton, Michael. 1991. The Last Colony in Africa: Diplomacy and the Independence of Rhodesia. London: Basil Blackwell.Google Scholar
Commonwealth Secretariat. 1980. Southern Rhodesian Elections, February 1980. The Report of the Commonwealth Observers Group. Commonwealth Secretariat, London.Google Scholar
Cox, Richard. 1964. Pan-Africanism in Practice: PAFMECSA, 1958-64. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Crummey, Donald ed. 1986. Banditry, Rebellion, and Social Protest in Africa. Portsmouth NH: Heineman.Google Scholar
Ellis, Stephen and Sechaba, Tsepo. 1992. Comrades Against Apartheid: The ANC and the South African Communist Party in Exile. Bloomington and London: Indiana University Press and James Currey.Google Scholar
Hyden, Goran. 1980. Beyond Ujamaa in Tanzania: Underdevelopment and an Uncaptured Peasantry. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Interviews by Author. 1984. ZANU party officials, Harare, Zimbabwe. 20 February.Google Scholar
Interviews by Author. 1984. OAU officials, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, April.Google Scholar
Isaacman, Allen and Isaacman, Barbara. 1983. Mozambique: From Colonialism to Revolution, 1900-1982. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Jackson, Robert H. and Rosberg, Carl G.. 1982. “Why Africa's Weak States Persist: The Empirical and the Juridical in Statehood.” World Politics 35/1 (October): 124.Google Scholar
James, Alan. 1978. “International Society.” British Journal of International Studies 4/2 (July): 91106.Google Scholar
James, Alan. 1986. Sovereign Statehood: The Basis of International Society. London: Allen and Unwin.Google Scholar
Kirk, Anthony. 1975. “Politics and Violence in Rhodesia.” African Affairs 74:338.Google Scholar
Krasner, Stephen. 1989. “Sovereignty: An Institutional Perspective.” In The Elusive State: International and Comparative Perspectives, edited by Caporaso, James A., 6996. Newbury Park: Sage.Google Scholar
Kriger, Norma J. 1991. Zimbabwe's Guerrilla War: Peasant Voices. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Lancaster House CC(79)23. “Conference Paper: Statement by Mugabe,” 8 October 1979. (Refers to the official papers from the Lancaster House conference, which are available at the Zimbabwe National Archives).Google Scholar
Lancaster House CC(79)11. “Conference Paper: Patriotic Front: Summary of Proposals,” 14 September 1979.Google Scholar
Lancaster House CC(79)109. “Conference Paper: Chairman's Statement,” 15 December 1979.Google Scholar
Martin, David and Johnson, Phyllis. 1981. The Struggle for Zimbabwe. Harare, Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe Publishing House.Google Scholar
Martin, David and Johnson, Phyllis. 1985. The Chitepo Assassination. Harare: Zimbabwe Publishing House.Google Scholar
Mboya, Tom. 1963. Freedom and After. Boston: Little, Brown and Co. Google Scholar
Mombeshora, A. H. 1967. “AAPSO of '67.” Zimbabwe Today 1:17 6 May, 46.Google Scholar
Moorcraft, Paul and McLaughlin, Peter. 1982 Chimurenga! The War in Rhodesia, 1965-1980. A Military History. Marshalltown, South Africa: Sygma Collins.Google Scholar
Mugabe, Robert. 1983. Our War of Liberation, Speeches, Articles, and Interviews. Gweru, Zimbabwe: Mambo Press.Google Scholar
Nyagumbo, Maurice. 1980. With the People. Harare, Zimbabwe: Graham Publishers.Google Scholar
O'Meara, Patrick. 1975. Rhodesia: Racial Conflict or Cooperation? Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Nyangoni, Christopher and Nyandoro, Gideon. 1979. Zimbabwe Independence Movements: Selected Documents. London: Rex Collings.Google Scholar
Raeburn, Michael. 1978. Black Fire! Accounts of the Guerrilla War in Rhodesia. London: Julian Friedman.Google Scholar
Ranger, Terence. 1986. Peasant Consciousness and Guerrilla War in Zimbabwe. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Republic of Zambia. 1976. Report of the Special International Commission on the Assassination of Herbert Wiltshire Chitepo. Lusaka.Google Scholar
Ruiz, Lester Edwin J. 1990. “Sovereignty as Transformative Practice.” In Contending Sovereignties: Redefining Political Community, edited by Walker, R. B. J. and Mendolvitz, Saul H., 7996. Boulder CO: Lynne Reiner.Google Scholar
Shamuyarira, Nathan. 1966. Crisis in Rhodesia. New York: Transatlantic Arts Press.Google Scholar
Shamuyarira, Nathan. 1976. “National Liberation Through Self Reliance in Rhodesia, 1956-1972.” Ph.D. diss., Princeton University.Google Scholar
Stedman, Stephen John. 1991. Peacemaking in Civil War: International Mediation in Zimbabwe, 1974-1980. Boulder, CO: Lynne Reiner.Google Scholar
Thompson, Carol B. 1986. Challenge to Imperialism: The Front Line States in the Liberation of Zimbabwe. Boulder CO: Westview Press.Google Scholar
The Times. 1978. London 24 July.Google Scholar
Vernon, Raymond. 1971. Sovereignty at Bay. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Vines, Alex. 1991. Renamo: Terrorism in Mozambique. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Walker, R. B. J. and Mendolvitz, Saul H. eds. 1990. Contending Sovereignties: Redefining Political Community. Boulder CO: Lynne Reiner.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weber, Max. 1964. The Theory of Social and Economic Organization, edited by Parsons, Talcott. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Wright, Martin. 1978. Power Politics. London: Royal Institute of International Affairs.Google Scholar
ZANU. 1964a. Zimbabwe Today (1 February).Google Scholar
ZANU. 1964b. Zimbabwe News (April).Google Scholar
ZANU. 1964c. “Memorandum Presented to African Liberation Committee by ZANU.” Zimbabwe Today 4:6 (May June).Google Scholar
ZANU. 1965. “What Price Unity.” Zimbabwe Review 2:7/8 (July August).Google Scholar
ZANU. 1966a. “ZANU in World Politics.” Zimbabwe Today 9 (18 April).Google Scholar
ZANU. 1966b. “Zimbabwe and African Politics.” Zimbabwe Today 9 (9 May).Google Scholar
ZANU. 1966c. “Time for Negotiations is Over.” Zimbabwe Today 1:10 (June).Google Scholar
ZANU. 1966d. “Who are our Friends?Zimbabwe Today 1:11 (22 June).Google Scholar
ZANU. 1967a. Zimbabwe Today (6 April).Google Scholar
ZANU. 1967b. “ZANU Chairman Interviewed by The Nationalist .” Zimbabwe Today (28 October).Google Scholar
ZANU. 1969. Zimbabwe News 4:3 24 (February).Google Scholar
ZANU. 1971. Zimbabwe News 5:13 (September).Google Scholar
ZANU. 1973. Zimbabwe News 7:12 (December).Google Scholar
ZANU. 1974. Zimbabwe News 8:4 (April).Google Scholar
ZANU. 1977. Zimbabwe News 9:2 (May June).Google Scholar
ZANU. 1978a. “The State of the Party.” Zimbabwe News 10:3 (May June).Google Scholar
ZANU. 1978b. “President Mugabe Visits Cuba.” Zimbabwe News 10:4 (July August).Google Scholar
ZANU. 1978c. “Yugoslavia Pledges Aid to Armed Struggle.” Zimbabwe News 10:6 (November December).Google Scholar
ZANU. 1978d. “Comrade President Builds Bridges.” Zimbabwe News 10:6 (November December).Google Scholar
ZANU. 1978e. “Comrade President Builds Bridges.” Zimbabwe News 10:3 (May June).Google Scholar
ZANU. 1978f. “Diplomatic Struggle.” Zimbabwe News 10:6 (November December).Google Scholar
ZANU. 1978g. “May in Zimbabwe.” Zimbabwe News 10: 3 (May June).Google Scholar
ZANU. 1978h. Zimbabwe News 10:3 (May June).Google Scholar
ZANU. 1978i. Zimbabwe News 10:6 (November December).Google Scholar
ZANU. 1979a. “KBW Visits ZANU.” Zimbabwe News 11:2 (July August).Google Scholar
ZANU. 1979b. “Humanitarian Aid.” Zimbabwe News 11:2 (July August).Google Scholar
ZANU. 1979c. “Non-Aligned Summit in Havana.” Zimbabwe News 11:2 (July August).Google Scholar
ZANU. 1979d. “Shades of Militant Solidarity.” Zimbabwe News 11:2 (July August).Google Scholar
ZANU. 1979e. “Images of Genuine Friendship.” Zimbabwe News 11:2 (July August).Google Scholar