Zimbabweans have every right to celebrate the end of Robert Mugabe’s long and disastrous reign, but they would be wrong to assume that this is the end of their political problems.
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After the fall of autocratic ruler Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe faces a difficult choice between the stability of a transnational government or a potentially divisive election contest.
Countries - including many in Africa - have moved towards democracy incrementally. They have zig-zagged and sometimes regressed. Events in Zimbabwe should be seen in this light.
Contrary to popular sentiment that the coup in Zimbabwe would usher in a new era of democracy, the military intervention is much more about a succession crisis in the ruling Zanu-PF.
A week after the army issued its limp-wristed and ambiguous statement that Mugabe should go, he remains in place, and a new avenue - impeachment - is being pursued to get rid of him.
Are we witnessing the end of an era in which dictators stayed in power for decades? If so this must be good not only for Angola and Zimbabwe but for southern Africa as a whole.
Top contributors
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Research Associate, Dept of Anthropology & Development Studies and Fellow, Clare Hall, University of Cambridge, University of Johannesburg
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Acting Director: Institute for Pan-African Thought & Conversation, University of Johannesburg
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DLitt et DPhil Student in Politics, University of South Africa
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Professor of Democracy, University of Birmingham
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Emeritus Professor, University of Cape Town
