The book provides a fresh and innovative interpretation of the new government of Zimbabwe led by Emmerson Mnangagwa, which emerged in late 2017 after the downfall of Robert Mugabe. It demonstrates the contradictory character of the Mnangagwa government, involving both continuities and discontinuities in relation to Mugabe’s regime . The temptation amongst Zimbabwean scholars has been to focus on the continuities and to dismiss the significance of any discontinuities, notably reform measures. This book adopts an alternative approach by identifying and focusing specifically on the existence of a formative project of the Mnangagwa’s Second Republic, further analysing its political significance, as well as risks and limitations. While doing so, the book covers topics such as reform measures, reconciliation, transitional justice, corruption, the media, agriculture, devolution, and the debt crisis as well as health and education. Discussing the limitations of these different reform measures, the book highlights that any scholarly failure to identify the risks of the project leads to an incomplete understanding of what constitutes the Mnangagwa’s Second Republic. The book appeals to students, scholars and researchers of Zimbabwean and African studies, political science and international relations, as well as policymakers interested in a better understanding of political reform processes.

The book provides a fresh and innovative interpretation of the new government of Zimbabwe led by Emmerson Mnangagwa, which emerged in late 2017 after the downfall of Robert Mugabe. It demonstrates the contradictory character of the Mnangagwa government, involving both continuities and discontinuities in relation to Mugabe's regime . The temptation amongst Zimbabwean scholars has been to focus on the continuities and to dismiss the significance of any discontinuities, notably reform measures. This book adopts an alternative approach by identifying and focusing specifically on the existence of a formative project of the Mnangagwa's Second Republic, further analysing its political significance, as well as risks and limitations. While doing so, the book covers topics such as reform measures, reconciliation, transitional justice, corruption, the media, agriculture, devolution, and the debt crisis as well as health and education. Discussing the limitations of these different reform measures, the book highlights that any scholarly failure to identify the risks of the project leads to an incomplete understanding of what constitutes the Mnangagwa's Second Republic. The book appeals to students, scholars and researchers of Zimbabwean and African studies, political science and international relations, as well as policymakers interested in a better understanding of political reform processes.

Arguably, one of the long waited political handover of power, globally, happened in November 2017 in Zimbabwe when the former and now late 37- year long serving and divisive President, Robert Gabriel Mugabe was forced out of power by a combination of forces that were spearheaded by the militarys Operation Restore Legacy. Mugabes departure ushered in President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwas reign. This transition has variously been characterised as marking the inauguration of the Second Republic or New Dispensation or as heralding a new Zimbabwe that is Open for Business. From the moment of the investiture of President Mnangagwas government, anticipations of seismic changes to the order of doing business by both the incoming government and the larger Zimbabwean society in general, were extremely high. There was an expectation that international cooperation with global partners, especially in the West, would be restored alongside the reinvigoration of a near comatose domestic economy. But, did this ever happen? This volume interrogates the impact of the introduction of the Mnangagwa administration from November 2017. The book seeks to broadly dissect and troubleshoot issues of continuity and change from Mugabes reign into Mnangagwas Second Republic. In doing so the book attempts to respond to the grand question: To what extent has Mugabeism that was the hallmark of Mugabes reign, continued or discontinued into the Second Republic? The volume, which comes as a sequel to The end of an era? Robert Mugabe and a conflicting legacy, is sure to generate interest and responses from students and academics in the fields of History, International Studies, Political Science, Sociology and Social anthropology, as well as from practitioners in the human rights, transitional jusrtice, conflict resolution, security studies and diplomatic fields.

Religious Leaders and the Regime in the Second Republic of Zimbabwe looks at the nexus of religion and politics in Zimbabwe. Religious leaders and institutes are discussed as either regime enablers, resistors, or transformers. This book focuses on how religion has played a role in thwarting democracy and has acted as a machine to silence dissenting voices, repression, and poor governance. The book addresses religious figures such as Andrew Wutawunashe, Talent Chiwenga, Bishop Mutendi, and Mapostori. In discussing these figures, the book highlights how ZANU PF has taken advantage of religious power to thwart democracy while rewarding regime enablers. The book also discusses the road to 2023 Zimbabwean elections and highlights the role of the church in creating an enabling and catastrophic environment. This book challenges oppressive systems perpetrated by religious leaders and politicians.

This book investigates how culture reflects change in Zimbabwe, focusing predominantly on Mnangagwa’s 2017 coup, but also uncovering deeper roots for how renewal and transition are conceived in the country. Since Emmerson Mnangagwa ousted Robert Mugabe in 2017, he has been keen to defi ne his "Second Republic" or "New Dispensation" with a rhetoric of change and a rejection of past political and economic cultures. This multi and inter- disciplinary volume looks to the (social) media, language/ discourse, theatre, images, political speeches and literary fiction and non- fiction to see how they have reflected on this time of unprecedented upheaval. The book argues that themes of self- renewal stretch right back to the formative years of the ZANU PF, and that despite the longevity of Mugabe’s tenure, the latest transition can be seen as part of a complex and protracted layering of postcolonial social, economic and political changes. Providing an innovative investigation of how political change in Zimbabwe is reflected on in cultural texts and products, this book will be of interest to researchers across African history, literature, politics, culture and post- colonial studies.

This book is the first to tackle the difficult and complex politics of transition in Zimbabwe, with deep historical analysis. Its focus is on a very problematic political culture that is proving very hard to transcend. At the center of this culture is an unstable but resilient ‘nationalist-military’ alliance crafted during the anti-colonial liberation struggle in the 1970s. Inevitably, violence, misogyny and masculinity are constitutive of the political culture. Economically speaking, the culture is that of a bureaucratic, parasitic, primitive accumulation and corruption, which include invasion and emptying of state coffers by a self-styled ‘Chimurenga aristocracy.’ However, this Chimurenga aristocracy is not cohesive, as the politics that led to Robert Mugabe’s ousting from power was preceded by dirty and protracted internal factionalism. At the center of the factional politics was the ‘first family’:Robert Mugabe and his wife, Grace Mugabe. This book offers a multidisciplinary examination of the complex contemporary politics in Zimbabwe, taking seriously such issues as gender, misogyny, militarism, violence, media, identity, modes of accumulation, the ethnicization of politics, attempts to open lines of credit and FDI, national healing, and the national question as key variables not only of a complete political culture but also of difficult transitional politics.

Religion is alive and well all over the world, especially in times of personal, political, and social crisis. Even in Europe, long regarded the most “secular” continent, religion has taken centre stage in how people respond to the crises associated with modernity, or how they interact with the nation-state. In this book, scholars working in and on Europe offer fresh perspectives on how religion provides answers to existential crisis, how crisis increases the salience of religious identities and cultural polarization, and how religion is contributing to changes in the modern world in Europe and beyond. Cases from Poland to Pakistan and from Ireland to Zimbabwe, among others, demonstrate the complexity and ambivalence of religion’s role in the contemporary world. Contributors are Mariecke van den Berg, David J. Bos, Marco Derks, Marco Derks, R. Ruard Ganzevoort, Miloš Jovanović, Vladimir Kmec, Marta Kołodziejska, Anne-Marie Korte, Anne-Sophie Lamine, Christophe Monnot, Alexandre Piettre, Ali Qadir, Srdjan Sremac, Joram Tarusaria, Martina Topić, and Tom Wagner.