Mugabe: A Life of Power and Violence - Softcover

Stephen Chan (author)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0472037595 ISBN 13: 9780472037599

Publisher: University of Michigan Press, 2019

Synopsis

On November 21, 2017, Robert Mugabe resigned as President of Zimbabwe after 37 years in power. A week earlier the military had seized control of the country and forced him to step down as leader of the ruling ZANU-PF party. In this revised and updated edition of his classic biography, Stephen Chan seeks to explain and interpret Mugabe in his role as a key player in the politics of Southern Africa. In this masterly portrait of one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders, Mugabe’s character unfolds with the ebb and flow of triumph and crisis. Mugabe’s story is Zimbabwe’s—from the post-independence hopes of idealism and reconciliation to electoral victory, the successful intervention in the international politics of Southern Africa, and the resistance to South Africa’s policy of apartheid. But a darker picture emerged early with the savage crushing of the Matabeleland rising, the elimination of political opponents, growing corruption, and disastrous intervention in the Congo war, all worsened by drought and the HIV/AIDS crisis. Chan’s highly revealing biography, based on close personal knowledge of Zimbabwe, depicts the emergence and eventual downfall of a ruthless and single-minded despot amassing and tightly clinging to political power. We follow as the triumphant nationalist leader who reconciled all in the new multiracial Zimbabwe degenerates into a petty tyrant consumed by hubris and self-righteousness and ultimately faces an ignominious endgame at the hands of his own army.

About this title

About the Author

Stephen Chan is Professor of World Politics at SOAS, University of London. He received an OBE in 2010 for services to Africa and Higher Education. He has also received the International Studies Association’s Eminent Scholar in Global Development award.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Michigan Press
• Publication date: 2019
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0472037595
• ISBN 13: 9780472037599
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 288