As Robert Mugabe resigns after 37 years in power, LSE’s Grace Thompson has trawled the web to find the best articles analysing events in seven preceding days when the army led the Commander of Zimbabwe’s Defense Forces General Constantine Chiwenga seized control of the country.
Understanding the Military Takeover – The army denied carrying out a coup on Tuesday 14 November, but LSE doctoral researcher Mcdonald Lewanika (@Makil) analyses what type of military intervention was playing out in Zimbabwe
Here’s what’s happening in Zimbabwe – Professor Clionadh Raleigh (@ACLEDINFO) explores the background to the military takeover in the country and explains the networks relevant in deciding who will be Mugabe’s successor in the Washington Post’s Monkey Page.
How did Mugabe Get There? – This extract of the forthcoming book, Robert Mugabe by Dr Sue Onslow and Martin Plaut (@martinplaut), unveil how Robert Mugabe finally overplayed his hand.
Mugabe and the Myth of the African Dictator – Dictators fall, but not the system that back them up. That is the focus of this insightful piece by Foluke Ifejola Adebisi (@folukeifejola).
Zimbabwe’s Clean Slate: What brought Mugabe down, and why he didn’t see it coming – In the Globe and Mail, Geoffrey York looks into how Robert Mugabe lost his aura.
How Mugabe’s reign over Zimbabwe became a byword for misrule – Simon Tisdall gives a short history of Mugabe’s political history from his initial electoral victory through his 37 years in power in the Guardian (UK).
Robert Mugabe at 93 – The Art of Power – This blog post was written in February 2017, but is still very useful in the analysis of the tools Mugabe used to stay in power. The author is Alex T. Magaisa, a lecturer in Law at the University of Kent and a member of the team that drafted the 2013 Zimbabwean Consititution. Although the piece is long and draws largely on theories about authoritarian leadership, it also offers some reflections on Mugabe’s reign and how he maintained power for so long.
Grace Mugabe: the rags to riches rise and fall of ‘Gucci Grace – So who is Grace Mugabe? Simon Allison explains her infamy throughout Zimbabwe and internationally, her relationship with Robert Mugabe, and her rise to political influence in the Guardian UK.
On Grace Mugabe: coups, phalluses and what is being defended – Rudo Mudiwa examines the speech that led to the downfall of Robert Mugabe, President of Zimbabwe for 37 years.
What have we missed? Tell us in the comments section.
The views expressed in this post are those of the author and in no way reflect those of the Africa at LSE blog, the Firoz Lalji Centre for Africa or the London School of Economics and Political Science.
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