This thesis is meant to examine how Zimbabwe became an authoritarian nation. A
country is not predestined toward democracy or dictatorship. Rather, there are multiple complexities throughout a country’s history that need to be addressed in order to assess what led to the nation’s current state of affairs.
ZANU-PF is currently the ruling party of Zimbabwe and it has been since the country’s independence in 1980. Although the country is constitutionally democratic, Robert Mugabe ruled the country for nearly thirty years, only to be ousted in a military coup. Mugabe oversaw a number of questionable policy moves and guided the country through constitutional reform wherein he was able to secure more power. Fellow party member and former Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa succeeded Mugabe. The political future of the country still remains unclear.