- Title
- An investigation of the Social and Structural basis for the emergence of social movements in Zimbabwe. A Comparative study of the Combined Harare Residents Association and Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association
- Creator
- Chaitezvi, Trevour
- Subject
- Social movements
- Date
- 2019
- Type
- Thesis
- Type
- Masters
- Type
- MSoc. Sci (Sociology)
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10353/17564
- Identifier
- vital:41091
- Description
- The emergence of urban social movements in the Zimbabwean context is mainly attributed to the political economic crisis, which resulted in the decline of municipal services and other socioeconomic rights central to the ordinary people. In the rural areas many scholars have alluded to the failure of the state to institute a radical transformation of the rural areas as the reason for the emergence of land movement and the subsequent land revolutions that followed in the early 2000s. Within this context, this study sought to investigate the social and structural basis for the emergence of social movements in Zimbabwe. The argument of this study hinges on the central premise of the political opportunity structure approach, which states that the emergence and success of social movements depends on certain political opportunities within the political environment. Building upon the guidance of the qualitative paradigm, whose method of investigation includes in-depth interviews and focus group discussions, the findings illustrate that the emergence of rural social movements in Zimbabwe was mainly to address the land question; such initiatives were to be done through fighting imperialism that hinges upon neo-liberal policies. In addition, one of the objectives for the emergence of rural social movements was to complete the objective of the liberation war, which was to give back the land to the indigenous black people. The tactics of the rural social movement included engaging the state and confronting it in other instances. Further, illegal land occupations were also one of the tactics of this movement. Ideologically, the movement used a Pan-African ideology to confront neo-colonization. On the other hand, the findings of the study illustrate that the emergence of urban social movements was mainly to provide a platform for the marginalized people to voice their discontent of the decline of service delivery in the urban context. Since most of these aspects were linked to the broader economic crisis facing the country, urban social movements also intended to initiate a political transition. The tactics of urban social movements included disruption, the establishment of networks with other social movements and the use of media, while constructing their ideology within the human rights framewo
- Format
- 199 leaves
- Format
- Publisher
- University of Fort Hare
- Publisher
- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities
- Language
- English
- Rights
- University of Fort Hare
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