ABSTRACT
This chapter demonstrates certain central underpinnings of Zimbabwe’s post-Cold War foreign policy-making process. Foreign policy in Zimbabwe has continued to be dictated by the ideas that emerged from the liberation struggle and has proved resistant to pressure from other sectors of society. The foreign policy-making process in Zimbabwe is basically a response or reaction to internal and external influences. Zimbabwe’s military involvement in Mozambique, Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are clear testimonies to the importance the Mugabe Administration attaches to the military as an instrument of the country’s foreign policy and foreign policy-making. Zimbabwe’s liberation policy can best be explained within the context of the country’s past experience of getting tremendous support from the Front Line States in its fight for independence. The Zimbabwean government dispatched troops and arms to the DRC to support the regime of the late Laurent Kabila against advancing rebels.
