Research Debates in Zimbabwe: From Analysis to Practice

Abstract

For the new government of Zimbabwe independence meant enormous expectations concerning social and economic equality, which in the increasingly harsh international economic environment were anything but easy to achieve. While the government wanted to adjust to the capitalist world economy, build on the state it inherited from the minority rule and reconcile itself with the white minority, it also called for a radical socialist and racial transformation. It is not surprising that high expectations and the opposing challenges of the new situation have also characterized the research on Zimbabwe’s performance.