A comparative study of the nexus between modes of liberation and regime survival: the case of Zambia and Zimbabwe

Regime change politics has dominated political discourse in Southern Africa in the neoliberal era. It has mainly been characterized by regime change agendas hatched and championed by neo-liberal forces and domestic actors seeking to replace southern African revolutionary nationalist governments with...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Munemo, Douglas
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Midlands State University 2016
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/11408/1297
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1779905311680757760
author Munemo, Douglas
author_facet Munemo, Douglas
author_sort Munemo, Douglas
collection DSpace
description Regime change politics has dominated political discourse in Southern Africa in the neoliberal era. It has mainly been characterized by regime change agendas hatched and championed by neo-liberal forces and domestic actors seeking to replace southern African revolutionary nationalist governments with pro-western democratic governments. This paper is a theoretical analysis of the politics of regime change in post-colonial Zambia and Zimbabwe. The paper explores the downfall of the United National Independence Party (UNIP) regime in Zambia and the persistence of the Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (ZANU PF) regime in Zimbabwe. While acknowledging that a multiplicity of factors influenced regime change politics in both Zambia and Zimbabwe, the study argues that the demise of the UNIP regime and the survival of the ZANU PF regime are rooted in their revolutionary pasts. The former was a pure political movement that achieved independence through political struggle while the latter was a politico- military movement that obtained independence through armed struggle. This diference in identity and mode of attaining independence shaped and influenced the manner in which the movements responded to regime change agendas.
format Article
id ir-11408-1297
institution My University
language English
publishDate 2016
publisher Midlands State University
record_format dspace
spelling ir-11408-12972022-06-27T13:49:06Z A comparative study of the nexus between modes of liberation and regime survival: the case of Zambia and Zimbabwe Munemo, Douglas Regime Change, UNIP, ZANU PF Regime survival, Liberation movements Regime change politics has dominated political discourse in Southern Africa in the neoliberal era. It has mainly been characterized by regime change agendas hatched and championed by neo-liberal forces and domestic actors seeking to replace southern African revolutionary nationalist governments with pro-western democratic governments. This paper is a theoretical analysis of the politics of regime change in post-colonial Zambia and Zimbabwe. The paper explores the downfall of the United National Independence Party (UNIP) regime in Zambia and the persistence of the Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (ZANU PF) regime in Zimbabwe. While acknowledging that a multiplicity of factors influenced regime change politics in both Zambia and Zimbabwe, the study argues that the demise of the UNIP regime and the survival of the ZANU PF regime are rooted in their revolutionary pasts. The former was a pure political movement that achieved independence through political struggle while the latter was a politico- military movement that obtained independence through armed struggle. This diference in identity and mode of attaining independence shaped and influenced the manner in which the movements responded to regime change agendas. 2016-05-13T07:24:28Z 2016-05-13T07:24:28Z 2014 Article 2312-945X http://hdl.handle.net/11408/1297 en Repositioning the Humanities: Journal of Contemporary Research;Vol. 1 No. 1; p. 79-91 open Midlands State University
spellingShingle Regime Change, UNIP, ZANU PF
Regime survival, Liberation movements
Munemo, Douglas
A comparative study of the nexus between modes of liberation and regime survival: the case of Zambia and Zimbabwe
title A comparative study of the nexus between modes of liberation and regime survival: the case of Zambia and Zimbabwe
title_full A comparative study of the nexus between modes of liberation and regime survival: the case of Zambia and Zimbabwe
title_fullStr A comparative study of the nexus between modes of liberation and regime survival: the case of Zambia and Zimbabwe
title_full_unstemmed A comparative study of the nexus between modes of liberation and regime survival: the case of Zambia and Zimbabwe
title_short A comparative study of the nexus between modes of liberation and regime survival: the case of Zambia and Zimbabwe
title_sort comparative study of the nexus between modes of liberation and regime survival: the case of zambia and zimbabwe
topic Regime Change, UNIP, ZANU PF
Regime survival, Liberation movements
url http://hdl.handle.net/11408/1297
work_keys_str_mv AT munemodouglas acomparativestudyofthenexusbetweenmodesofliberationandregimesurvivalthecaseofzambiaandzimbabwe
AT munemodouglas comparativestudyofthenexusbetweenmodesofliberationandregimesurvivalthecaseofzambiaandzimbabwe