Zimbabwe’s predatory state: party, military and business complex

Submitted to the Development Studies, School of Social Sciences in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Development Studies University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa 2016The predatory state has received considerably less attention than the developmental state in the development literature. In this thesis I probe three understudied questions on the characteristics of the predatory state and its construction. First, what are the underlying class forces and power dynamics of a predatory state and how does it function? Second, what are the modes of accumulation that characterise the predatory state? Finally, what are the implications for development outcomes? This thesis answers these questions by examining Zimbabwe’s power elite (state, military and business) anti-developmental accumulation patterns across key economic sectors: land and agriculture, mining, transport and energy, and banking and finance. I adopt an historical approach beginning in the colonial period to understand the key choices made to explain the changing role of the state in mediating accumulation patterns and implications for development in both pre- and post-independence periods. Based on my empirical research, I suggest that the predatory state is a ruling class anti-developmental accumulation and reproduction project characterised by: (1) party and military dominance in the state; (2) state-business relations shaped by domination and capture; and (3) state-society relations shaped by violence and patronage. I differentiate the notion of predation from most political economy approaches on post-colonial Africa that emphasise the absence of central authority. I challenge the developmental state concept that views the predatory state as simply the opposite of a developmental state. Finally, I also show that contrary to suggestions that the predatory state is autonomous from society, the predatory state is also in fact deeply embedded with business albeit in a different way.GR201

Analysis of government expenditure in driving economic growth in Zimbabwe between 1980 and 1998

MM thesis - P&DMSince 1980, the Zimbabwean economy has not performed well, characterised by averagely declining levels of growth and often recording negative economic growth in some years. Various explanations have been provided by different scholars including statism (Midgely, 1987; Gilman, 2006), excessive government spending (Fan and Rao, 2003), poor economic governance and a series of ‘wrong’ policy choices (Gilpin, 2008). This research attempted to analyse the role of public spending in driving economic growth over the period. The study focused on determining the resource allocation to the three sectors of the economy (safety and security, social and economic), identifying and classifying some programmes and projects implemented by government according to the sectoral criteria of safety and security, social and economic, as well as analysing the nature of the spending between operational and capital investment over the period 1980 to 1998. The chosen data was collected and analysed from secondary sources mainly budget statements, Government of Zimbabwe Socio-Economic Review documents and macroeconomic policies. The study found that declining capital investment, increasing recurrent expenditures, largely dominated by huge defence budget and transfer payments, were among factors that reduced the influence of government expenditure in driving economic growth in Zimbabwe. Key recommendations were drawn for Zimbabwe to institute budgetary reforms by reducing large defence spending and size of the public sector, and direct limited fiscal resources towards the economic sector through capital investment, human capital development and knowledge processes as the imperatives for sustainable long-term growt