The relevance of class to the evolution of Zimbabwe's development strategy, 1980–1991

Abstract

The relevance of class to the political economy of transformation is illustrated with an analysis of how class forces worked their influence on the evolution of Zimbabwe's development strategy from 1980—1991. Zimbabwe's development strategy has evolved from one that gave primary emphasis to equity and meeting the welfare needs of the poor in the early 1980s, to one which evinced a declining commitment on the part of the ruling elite to the welfare of the poor by the end of the decade. The loss of priority attached by the ruling elite to meeting the welfare needs of the poor was coincidental to, but was not the direct result of, the introduction of the Economic Structural Adjustment Programme (ESAP) in 1991. Rather, a necessary part of the explanation lies in the embourgeoisement of the ruling elite, and the resultant embracing of a capitalist ideology.