Keywords

Zimbabwe, Land Reform, Structural Adjustment, ESAP, Robert Mugabe

Abstract

Once the breadbasket of Southern Africa, Zimbabwe has undergone a radical transformation presently characterized by ever increasing rates of HIV and AIDS, low population growth, acute food shortages, radically decreasing life expectancy, hyperinflation, and insecurity of life and property. Additionally, the growing brutality of political and electoral oppression has engendered significant domestic, regional, and international condemnation of the Zimbabwean government. News media, human rights organizations, and foreign governments have all voiced their concern for the rapid deterioration of Zimbabwe. This thesis analyzes the course of Zimbabwe's economic, political, and social decline between its independence in 1980 and 2005. While popular interpretations place blame predominantly upon President Robert Mugabe and the Zimbabwe African Union-Patriotic Front, this thesis offers a more nuanced explanation for Zimbabwe's current crisis. This view contends that the structural adjustment policies of the Bretton Woods institutions, in concert with the breakdown of democratic institutions and the implementation of radical land reform policies led to Zimbabwe's current economic, political, and social decline.

Notes

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Graduation Date

2009

Advisor

Walker, Ezekiel

Degree

Master of Arts (M.A.)

College

College of Arts and Humanities

Department

History

Degree Program

History

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0002801

URL

http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0002801

Language

English

Release Date

March 2010

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Masters Thesis (Open Access)

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History Commons

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