Robert Mugabe's Africa: Zimbabwe as a Failed State

Abstract

Independence, equality and freedom: these democratic ideals were at the heart of the revolutionary rebellion of Black Zimbabweans against the British colonial power of Rhodesia. The rebellion leader, Robert Mugabe, was initially thought to embody these ideals as a revolutionary hero and became Zimbabwe's first President upon independence in 1980. However, the state is now fully incapacitated due to rampant government corruption and economic failure. This paper will define a "failed state", concentrating on the Zimbabwean economy and political dictatorship under Robert Mugabe. The democratic spirit of rebellion has not been quelled in all Zimbabweans, as evidenced by the courageous actions of Mike Campbell and Ben Freeth against Mugabe's Fast Track Land Reform Program (FTLRP). In spite of the indisputable failure of economic reforms like the FTLRP, the Indigenization Act of 2008 has condemned the utilization of Foreign Direct Investment to rebuild the economy as a means of stabilizing this failed state.