Overview

On 21st November 2017, Robert Mugabe resigned as President of Zimbabwe after 37 years in power. A week earlier the military had seized control of the country and forced him to step down as leader of the ruling Zanu-PF party. In this revised and updated edition of his classic biography, Stephen Chan seeks to explain and interpret Mugabe in his role as a key player in the politics of Southern Africa. In this masterly portrait of one of Africa's longest-serving leaders, Mugabe's character unfolds with the ebb and flow of triumph and crisis. Mugabe's story is Zimbabwe's - from the post-independence hopes of idealism and reconciliation to electoral victory, the successful intervention in the international politics of Southern Africa and the resistance to South Africa's policy of apartheid. But a darker picture emerged early with the savage crushing of the Matabeleland rising, the elimination of political opponents, growing corruption and disastrous intervention in the Congo war, all worsened by drought and the HIV/AIDS crisis. Stephen Chan's highly revealing biography, based on close personal knowledge of Zimbabwe, depicts the emergence and eventual downfall of a ruthless and single-minded despot amassing and tightly clinging to political power. We follow the triumphant nationalist leader who reconciled all in the new multiracial Zimbabwe, degenerate into a petty tyrant consumed by hubris and self-righteousness and ultimately face an ignominious endgame at the hands of his own army.

Full Product Details

Author:   Stephen Chan (SOAS, University of London, UK)
Publisher:   Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Imprint:   Bloomsbury Academic
Dimensions:   Width: 13.80cm , Height: 2.40cm , Length: 21.60cm
Weight:   0.380kg
ISBN:  

9781350442467

ISBN 10:   1350442461
Pages:   288
Publication Date:   24 August 2023
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Glossary Preface to the 2018 Edition Preface – 22 Years of Robert Mugabe Prologue – A Moment in the New Millennium PART I: BY FAIR MEANS OR VERY FOUL As It Was in the Beginning The Pursuit of New Wars An Unlikely Champion Arises PART II: BRILLIANCE AND OPPOTUNISM’S BRIEF THEN FADING MOMENT 4. Human Rights, Personal Tragedy and Drought 5. The End of War in Mozambique: Mugabe’s Roman Triumph 6. Amazing Grace and Decline 7. Interlude: Houses of Hunger – the Intellectual Debates of Zimbabwe PART III: THE OLD MAN’S RUTHLESS STAND 8. Mugabe’s Path of Discomforts: One – Disease, War, the Constitution 9. Mugabe’s Path of Discomforts: Two – Land and Persecution 10. Mugabe’s Path of Discomforts: Three – Ghosts and Spectres 11. Elections 2002 12. A Life of Power and Violence 2002-2017 Bibliographic Essay Index

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Author Information

Stephen Chan is Professor of International Relations at SOAS, University of London and Honorary Professor of Humanities at University of Johannesburg. He received an OBE in 2010 for services to Africa and Higher Education. He has also received the International Studies Association's Eminent Shcolar in Global Development award.

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