Conflict and the resolution process in Zimbabwe from 2000 to 2013
Date
2016
Authors
Mutambudzi, Anywhere
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Abstract
The timing of conflict resolution efforts is important in identifying when an intervention is likely to succeed
according to ripeness of conflicts theory (Zartman, 1985). Although the ripeness theory appears to be a great
contribution to the conflict resolution doctrine, there is no scholarly consensus on its plausibility with criticisms that
are centred on: a contest on the variables that should help in its identification; low predictability; lack of cross-case
generalisations; and, methodological weaknesses inherited from rational and public choice theories. The study took
the position that conditions creating ripeness should be expanded beyond what is currently obtaining in literature,
can help in determining the formula for resolution and indicate what to do in the implementation of the agreement so
reached. To interrogate the theory’s plausibility, interpretivism was used to gather evidence from the case - the
conflict that prevailed in Zimbabwe from 2000 to 2013 - to extrapolate implications for the ripeness theory and
suggest improvements through paradigm complementarity.
Although the external dimension of the conflict in Zimbabwe remained unaffected, ripeness was found in its
domestic setting deriving from the indecisive/disputed elections of 2008 and the threat of a failed economy that
triggered a Southern African Development Community intervention and offered a cue to the formula for resolution -
the Global Political Agreement. Shared political legitimacy in the Global Political Agreement however saw that
ripeness diminishing and it had vanished by 2013, although the conflict which by 2013 was yet to realise complete
resolution, was to a large extent transformed to lower levels of hostilities with dysfunctionality temporarily arrested.
Ripeness proved to be a product of both perceptual and structural variables that change in intensity over time, thus
affecting the implementation of agreements that arise from ripeness. The study proved that ripeness theory in its
expanded form is a viable strategic tool in conflict resolution, though success as in military doctrine depends on the
accurate identification of the variables creating ripeness, timely intervention and a fitting operational plan to
effectively exploit the opportunities so created.
Description
A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University
of the Witwatersrand, in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of
Philosophy
March 2015
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Citation
Mutambudzi, Anywhere (2016) Conflict and the resolution process in Zimbabwe from 2000 to 2013, University of the Witwatersrand, <http://wiredspace.wits.ac.za/handle/10539/21572>