The Struggle over State Power in Zimbabwe

George Karekwaivanane is a Lecturer in African Studies at the University of Edinburgh. He has previously published in journals including Africa: The Journal of the International African Institute, Politique Africaine and the Journal of Southern African Studies. His article in the Journal of Southern African Studies was awarded the 2011 Terence Ranger Prize, and his Ph.D. thesis was awarded the Audrey Richards runner-up prize by the African Studies Association UK in 2014.

• List of figures; List of tables; Acknowledgements; List of abbreviations; Introduction; 1. Laying down the law: a historical background, 1890–1950; 2. Customising justice and constructing subjects: state, 'customary law' and Chiefs' Courts, 1950–1980; 3. Legislating against dissent: law, race and politics, 1950–1964; 4. Legality without legitimacy: law and politics during UDI, 1965–1980; 5. Intermediaries, intellectuals and translators: African lawyers and the struggles in the legal arena, 1950–1980; 6. Law and transformation: remaking the legal system in postcolonial Zimbabwe, 1980–1990; 7. Continuity and consolidation: law and politics in Zimbabwe, 1980–1990; 8. 'The past as prologue': law and politics in Zimbabwe, 1997–2008; Conclusion; Bibliography.

'This dense and powerful book reminds us that independence and majority rule (and democratization and neoliberalism) are not breaks with the past but the result of the past, and past struggles over rights and with rights - who has them, who can act on them, and who can articulate them.' Luise White, University of Florida