The 'Fascist Cycle' in Zimbabwe, 2000-2005
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4603305 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Timothy Scarnecchia (0009-0003-8865-6310, a Georgetown University , 37th & O Streets, NW, Washington, DC, 20057, United States of America E-mail, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2006 |
| Volume | 32 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 221-237 |
| Publication date | 2006-06-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Southern African Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0305-7070 • E-ISSN: 1465-3893 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/03057070600656085 |
| OpenAlex | W2020961620 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 19 |
Following a comparative model of fascism developed by Robert O. Paxton, this article explores the similarities between a fascist cycle in Italy (1920–1924) and Zimbabwe (2000–2005). The comparison focuses on the following areas: the state's use of paramilitary organisations, or militias, to maintain or regain control; the abuse of legislative and judicial powers to protect ruling party interests; party membership as a prerequisite for involvement in basic areas of social and economic life; and the primacy of political survival over strategic economic planning. This article also explores the historical authoritarian and fascist models from pre-Independence white-minority governments, and investigates the wider significance of an older fascist political tradition for understanding the current crisis. While drawing a comparison of this ‘fascist cycle’ in Italy and Zimbabwe, this article suggests that those outside Zimbabwe who support the current regime as pan-Africanist are misreading the relationship between older ideologies of race-defined liberation movements and current strategies by a conservative elite to maintain control of the state and economy. Similarly, those western observers who seek to use the Zimbabwean crisis as an example of ‘failed’ governance miss the specific political logic of the past five years. By emphasising Paxton's comparative concept of a ‘fascist cycle’, this article questions explanations of the crisis based either on race or a particularly ‘African’ political style
Authoritarianism · Corporate governance · Democracy · Economics · Elite · Ideology · Legislature · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · African studies and sociopolitical issues · Law
Zimbabwe
Deportationen aus Südafrika
Multiparty elections and land patronage
Diverging Visions on Political Conditionality
Mugabe’s shadow
Mugabe
Patriotic history and anti-LGBT rhetoric in Zimbabwean politics
The presidential and parliamentary elections in Zimbabwe, March and June 2008
Post-Liberation Xenophobia in Southern Africa
Shifting the debate on land reform, poverty and inequality in Zimbabwe, an engagement with Zimbabwe's Land Reform
A parallel universe – competing interpretations of Zimbabwe's crisis
The Zimbabwean Crisis and the Unresolved Conundrum of Race in the Post-colonial Period
Militarisation of Public Institutions, Flawed Electoral Processes and Curtailed Citizen Participation
Confronting the settler legacy
Election type and the logic of pre-election violence
Polarising cultures, politics and communities and fracturing economies in Zimbabwean literature
Of Bob, Madzibaba Gabriel, and Goblins
Restructuring of agrarian labour relations after Fast Track Land Reform in Zimbabwe
Muchongoyo and Mugabeism in Zimbabwe
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2007 - 2023 (17) |
| Highly cited | No |