ABSTRACT

This chapter attempts to trace changes in Zimbabwean foreign policy and policy-making processes since the advent of democratization and globalization in the region. It demonstrates certain central underpinnings of Zimbabwe's post-Cold War foreign policy-making process. The chapter argues that policy shifts away from support for liberation in the sub-continent to an emphasis on protection of its economic interests together with the predatory activities of the small kleptocratic class that has ruled the country since independence in 1980. It is argued that in charting a new role for itself, the Zimbabwean regime has pursued an aggressive economic and military policy in the region which has led it into engagement in Angola, and in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), with possible consequences of friction with other regional players, and western-led global institutions of governance. Zimbabwe-South Africa relations remained shaky during the Mandela Presidency because of South Africa's concern over the issues of democracy and human rights in Zimbabwe.