Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-t5pn6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-20T05:05:58.964Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Violence, partisanship and transitional justice in Zimbabwe*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2011

Michael Bratton
Michael Bratton*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, Michigan State University, 303 South Kedzie Hall, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
*
Email: mbratton@msu.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

What determines people's willingness to consider punishment for human rights abusers? This article investigates this question in the context of Zimbabwe in the aftermath of the country's violent presidential election campaign of June 2008. Based on a national probability sample survey, the paper shows that exposure to violence was reportedly widespread and that attitudes to transitional justice are mixed. In considering how to handle abuses, Zimbabweans weigh the pros and cons carefully and, recognising that peace and justice are difficult to obtain simultaneously, generally prefer the former. The article analyses the various factors that together predict a citizen's proclivity to claim transitional justice in its most demanding retributive form. Reflecting power relations, the results indicate that political partisanship is almost as important as individuals’ personal experience of actual and threatened acts of violence.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 49 , Issue 3 , September 2011 , pp. 353 - 380
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

I thank Eldred Masunungure for collaboration on all stages of research and analysis, and Karl Beck, Nic Cheeseman, Boniface Dulani, Adrienne LeBas, Timothy Longman, Tom Melia, Tony Reeler, Valerie Rosoux and three anonymous reviewers for insightful comments on earlier versions of this paper. All remaining errors are my own.

References

REFERENCES

Amnesty International (AI). 2008. Zimbabwe: time for accountability. London: AI.Google Scholar
Arthur, P. 2009. ‘How “transitions” reshaped human rights: a conceptual history of transitional justice’, Human Rights Quarterly 31, 2: 321–67.Google Scholar
Asmal, K., Asmal, L. & Roberts, R.. 1994. Reconciliation through Truth: a reckoning of apartheid's criminal governance. Cape Town: David Philip.Google Scholar
Backer, D. 2007. ‘Victims' responses to truth commissions: evidence from South Africa’, in Ndulo, M., ed. Security, Reconstruction and Reconciliation: when wars end. London: University College London Press, 165–96.Google Scholar
Backer, D. 2010. ‘Watching a bargain unravel: a panel study of victims' attitudes about transitional justice in Cape Town, South Africa’, International Journal of Transitional Justice 4, 4: 443–56.Google Scholar
Bassiouni, M. C. 2000. Post-Conflict Justice. New York: Transnational Publishers.Google Scholar
Bickford, L. 2004. ‘Transitional justice’, in Slelton, D. L., ed. Encyclopaedia of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity. New York: Macmillan, 1045–7.Google Scholar
Biggar, N. 2001. Burying the Past: making peace and doing justice after civil conflict. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
Boraine, A., Levy, J. & Scheffer, R., eds. 1994. Dealing with the Past: truth and reconciliation in South Africa. Pretoria: Institute for Democracy in South Africa.Google Scholar
Brahm, E. 2007. ‘Uncovering the truth: examining truth commission success and impact’, International Studies Perspectives 8, 1: 16–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Braithwaite, J. 2002. Restorative Justice and Responsive Regulation. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Bratton, M. & Masunungure, E.. 2007. ‘Popular reactions to state repression: Operation Murambatsvina in Zimbabwe’, African Affairs 106, 422: 21–45.Google Scholar
Brounéus, K. 2010. ‘The trauma of truth-telling: effects on psychological health of witnessing in the Rwanda Gacaca courts’, Journal of Conflict Resolution 54, 3: 408–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carothers, T. 2002. ‘The end of the transition paradigm’, Journal of Democracy 13, 1: 5–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in Rhodesia (CCJPR). 1977. The Propaganda War. London: Catholic Institute for International Relations.Google Scholar
Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in Zimbabwe (CCJPZ). 2007. Gukurahundi in Zimbabwe: a report on the disturbances in Matabeleland and the Midlands, 1980–1988. Johannesburg: Jacana Press.Google Scholar
Clark, P. 2010. The Gacaca Courts, Post-Genocide Justice and Reconciliation in Rwanda. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
David, R. & Choi, S.. 2006. ‘Forgiveness and transitional justice in the Czech Republic’, Journal of Conflict Resolution 50, 3: 339–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Du Plessis, M. & Jolyon, F.. 2008. ‘Justice and peace in a new Zimbabwe: transitional justice options’, Occasional Paper 164, Pretoria: Institute for Security Studies.Google Scholar
Elster, J. 2004. Closing the Books: transitional justice in historical perspective. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Gibson, J. 2004. Overcoming Apartheid: can truth reconcile a divided nation? New York: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
Gibson, J. 2009. Overcoming Historical Injustices: land reconciliation in South Africa. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibson, J. & Gouws, A.. 2003. Overcoming Intolerance in South Africa: experiments in democratic persuasion. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Global Political Agreement (GPA). 2008. ‘Agreement between the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) and the two Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) formations on resolving the challenges faced by Zimbabwe’, Harare, 15.9.2008.Google Scholar
Grodsky, B. 2010. The Costs of Justice: how new leaders respond to previous rights abuses. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.Google Scholar
Hayner, P. 1994. ‘Fifteen truth commissions, 1974 to 1994: a comparative study’, Human Rights Quarterly 16, 4: 597–655.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hayner, P. 2001. Unspeakable Truths: confronting state terror and atrocity. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Hochschild, J. 1981. What's Fair? American beliefs about distributive justice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Human Rights Watch (HRW). 2008. ‘Bullets for Each of You’: state-sponsored violence since Zimbabwe's March 29 elections. New York: HRW.Google Scholar
Huntington, S. 1991. The Third Wave: democratization in the late twentieth century. Norman, OK: Oklahoma University Press.Google Scholar
Impunity Watch. 2008. Seeking Justice for Zimbabwe: a case for accountability against Robert Mugabe and others, 1981–2008. Washington, DC: Impunity Watch.Google Scholar
International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ). 2007. ‘When the war ends: a population-based survey on attitudes about peace, justice and social reconstruction in northern Uganda’, available at: www.ictj.org, accessed 16.3.2010.Google Scholar
ICTJ. 2008. ‘What is transitional justice?’, available at: www.ictj.org, accessed 13.4.2010.Google Scholar
Judah, E. & Bryant, M., eds. 2004. Criminal Justice: retribution versus restoration. Binghamton, NY: Haworth.Google Scholar
Kaminski, M., Nalepa, M. & O'Neill, B.. 2006. ‘Normative and strategic aspects of transitional justice’, Journal of Conflict Resolution (special issue on Transitional Justice) 50, 3: 295–302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kibble, S. & Vanlerberghe, P.. 2001. Land, Power and Poverty: farmworkers and the crisis in Zimbabwe. London: Catholic Institute for International Relations.Google Scholar
Kriger, N. 1992. Zimbabwe's Guerrilla War: peasant voices. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kriger, N. 2005. ‘ZANU-PF strategies in general elections, 1980–2000: discourse and coercion’, African Affairs 104, 414: 1–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kriger, N. 2008. ‘Waiting for power-sharing: a false promise’, Concerned Africa Scholars, ACAS Bulletin 80, December, available at: http://concernedafricascholars.org/bulletin/80/kriger/.Google Scholar
Kritz, N. 1995. Transitional Justice: how emerging democracies reckon with former regimes, 4 vols. Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace Press.Google Scholar
LeBas, A. 2006. ‘Polarization as craft: party formation and state violence in Zimbabwe’, Comparative Politics 38, 4: 419–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lerner, M. 1980. The Belief in a Just World. New York: Plenum.Google Scholar
Levitsky, S. & Way, L.. 2010. Competitive Authoritarianism: hybrid regimes after the Cold War. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Longman, T., forthcoming. Memory, Justice and Power in Post-Genocide Rwanda. Boston, MA: Boston University, unpublished book manuscript.Google Scholar
McGregor, J. 2002. ‘The politics of disruption: war veterans and the local state in Zimbabwe’, African Affairs 101, 402: 9–37.Google Scholar
Mass Public Opinion Institute (MPOI). 2009. Zimbabwe Focus Group Research, Round 2. Harare: MPOI.Google Scholar
Masunungure, E. 1998. ‘Political culture and democratic governance in Zimbabwe’, unpublished paper, Department of Political and Administrative Studies, University of Zimbabwe.Google Scholar
Masunungure, E., ed. 2009a. Defying the Wind: Zimbabwe's 2008 elections. Harare: Weaver Press.Google Scholar
Masunungure, E. 2009b. ‘Zimbabwe's power sharing agreement’, paper prepared for a workshop on ‘The consequences of political inclusion in Africa’, American University, Washington, DC, 24–5 April.Google Scholar
Mendeloff, D. 2009. ‘Trauma and vengeance: assessing the psychological and emotional effects of post-conflict justice’, Human Rights Quarterly 31, 3: 592–623.Google Scholar
Miller, D. 2001. ‘Disrespect and the experience of justice’, Annual Review of Psychology 52: 527–53.Google Scholar
Moorcroft, P. & McLaughlin, P.. 2008. The Rhodesian War: a military history. Johannesburg & Cape Town: Jonathan Ball Publishers.Google Scholar
Nalepa, M. 2010. ‘Captured commitments: an analytic narrative of transitions with transitional justice’, World Politics 62, 2: 341–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
National Unity and Reconciliation Commission (NURC). 2003. ‘Opinion survey on participation in Gacaca and National Reconciliation’, Kigali: NURC, January.Google Scholar
Ndlovu-Gatsheni, S. 2009. Do Zimbabweans Exist? Trajectories of nationalism, national identity formation and crisis in a postcolonial state. Bern: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
O'Donnell, G. & Schmitter, P.. 1986. Transitions from Authoritarian Rule: tentative conclusions about uncertain democracies. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Pham, P., Weinstein, H. & Longman, T.. 2004. ‘Trauma and PTSD symptoms in Rwanda: implications for attitudes toward justice and reconciliation’, Journal of the American Medical Association 292, 5: 602–12.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Potts, D. 2006. ‘Restoring order? Operation Murambatsvina and the urban crisis in Zimbabwe’, Journal of Southern African Studies 32, 2: 273–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rawls, J. 1971. A Theory of Justice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Schedler, A. 2006. Electoral Authoritarianism: the dynamics of unfree competition. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.Google Scholar
Sithole, M. 1999. Zimbabwe: struggles-within-the-struggle, 2nd edn.Harare: Rujeko Publishers.Google Scholar
Snyder, J. & Vinjamuri, L.. 2004. ‘Trials and errors: principle and pragmatism in strategies of international justice’, International Security 28, 3: 5–44.Google Scholar
Solidarity Peace Trust (SPT). 2008. Punishing Dissent, Silencing Citizens: the Zimbabwe election 2008. Port Shepstone, South Africa: SPT.Google Scholar
SPT. 2009. Transitional Justice Options for Zimbabwe. Port Shepstone: SPT.Google Scholar
Staunton, I., ed. 2009. Damage: the personal costs of political change in Zimbabwe. Harare: Weaver Press.Google Scholar
Stover, E. & Weinstein, H.. 2004. My Neighbor, My Enemy: justice and community in the aftermath of mass atrocity. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SW Radio Africa. 2010. ‘Is Zimbabwe's national healing programme a fake?’, interview transcript, Parts 1 and 2, 19 and 28 May, available at: www.thezimbabwean.co.uk.Google Scholar
Tibaijuka, A. 2005. Report of the Fact-Finding Mission to Zimbabwe to Assess the Scope and Impact of Operation Murambatsvina. New York: United Nations-Habitat.Google Scholar
Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). 1998. Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa: report. Cape Town: Government of South Africa.Google Scholar
UBO Consulting. 2007. ‘Public perceptions on transitional justice: report on transitional justice opinion polling survey conducted in April–May 2007 in Kosovo’, Pristina, Kosovo: United Nations Development Programme, May.Google Scholar
Umhlahlo weSizwe sikaMthwakazi (USM). 2010. ‘Restoration of Ndebele sovereignty’, submission to Constitutional Parliamentary Committee, Parliament of Zimbabwe. Bulawayo, 22 January.Google Scholar
Uvin, P. 2003. ‘The Gacaca tribunals in Rwanda’, in Bloomfield, D., Barnes, T. & Huyse, L., eds. Reconciliation After Violent Conflict: a handbook. Stockholm: International IDEA, 116–21.Google Scholar
van de Merwe, H. 2009. ‘Delivering justice during transition: research challenges’, in van de Merwe, H., Baxter, V. & Chapman, A., eds. Assessing the Impact of Transitional Justice: challenges for empirical research. Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace Press, 115–42.Google Scholar
Vinck, P., Pham, P., Baldo, S. & Shigekane, R.. 2008. ‘Living with fear: a population based survey on attitudes about peace, justice and social reconstruction in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo’, International Center for Transitional Justice, available at: www.ictj.org, accessed 2.5.2010.Google Scholar
Willems, W. 2004. ‘Peasant demonstrators, violent invaders: representations of land in the Zimbabwean press’, World Development 32, 10: 1767–83.Google Scholar
Zalaquett, J. 1989. ‘Confronting human rights violations committed by former governments: principles applicable and political constraints’, in State Crimes: punishment or pardon. Washington, DC: Aspen Institute, Justice and Society Program, 23–69.Google Scholar
Zartman, W. & Kremenyuk, V., eds. 2005. Peace versus Justice: negotiating forward- and backward-looking outcomes. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum. 2006. Exploring Transitional Justice Options in Contemporary Zimbabwe. Harare: Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum.Google Scholar