UNDERSTANDING ZIMBABWE, from liberation to authoritarianism

347pp., paperback, London, 2016.

Sara Rich Dorman examines the interactions of social groups - churches, NGOs, and political parties - from the days of the liberation struggle as they engaged the state and ruling party, and explains how electoral machinery, the judiciary, and other institutions of state control ensured ZANU-PF hegemony.

"For many African states we lack authoritative texts that explain their political history and bring it up to date in a thorough and balanced way. With Sara Rich Dorman's readable and insightful volume, this gap has been filled for Zimbabwe. If you are looking for one book to read on Robert Mugabe and ZANU-PF you cannot do much better than this." Nic Cheeseman, Associate Professor of African Politics, Oxford University

"Sara Rich Dorman provides a comprehensive and thoughtful narrative of the tragedy of politics in Zimbabwe after the triumph of its liberation movement. Instead of demonising Mugabe, she explains the resilience of the Zimbabwe African National Union, which used the tools of coercion, distribution of resources, and ideological positioning to maintain itself as the exclusive representative of the nation." Frederick Cooper, author of Africa in the World: capitalism, empire, nation-state

Sara Rich Dorman is Lecturer in Politics, University of Edinburgh.