The Presidential Elections that took place from March 9 to 11, 2002 in Zimbabwe provoked enormous internal and international
controversies. The impact of the politically contested continued presidency of Robert Mugabe, head of state and leader of the government under ZANU-PF since Zimbabwe's Independence in 1980, for the country, the region and the continent might be far reaching. The
consequences are not yet fully apparent, but the current debates also centre around the case of Zimbabwe as a litmus test for the
notion of "good governance" and democracy as perceived and acknowledged by other African leaders especially in the context of the "New Partnership for Africa's Development" (NEPAD). The
contributions to this Discussion Paper offer critical and political comments from scholars mainly in or from the Southern African region, who have been closely involved with regional and Zimbabwean issues.

Contents:

Preface

Kenneth Good
Dealing with Despotism: The People and the Presidents

Amin Y. Kamete
The Rebels Within:
Urban Zimbabwe in the Post-Election Period

Brian Raftopoulos
Climbing out from the Rubble
Tandeka C. Nkiwane
Observing the Observers

Henning Melber
Zimbabwe and "The Pitfalls of National Consciousness"

Ian Taylor
Zimbabwe's Debacle, Africa's Response and the Implications
for the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD)

Patrick Molutsi
Beyond the Zimbabwean Mist:
Challenges and Prospects for Democracy in Africa

Stefan Mair
Zimbabwe after the Elections: A German View

Kenneth Good is Professor at the Department of Political and Administrative Studies/University of Botswana in Gaborone.

Amin Y. Kamete is Senior Lecturer at the Department of Rural and Urban Planning/University of Zimbabwe in Harare and has been a Guest Researcher at the Nordic Africa Institute in Uppsala.

Stefan Mair is Head of the Research Unit Middle East and Africa at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs in
Berlin.

Henning Melber is Research Director of the Nordic Africa Institute in Uppsala. He has previously been Director of the Namibian Economic
Policy Research Unit (NEPRU) in Windhoek.

Patrick Molutsi is Senior Executive for Applied Research at the
International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) in Stockholm. He has previously been Professor at the
Department of Political and Administrative Studies/University of Botswana in Gaborone.

Tandeka C. Nkiwane is Assistant Professor of Government at Smith
College, Massachusetts. She has previously been lecturer at the Department of Political Studies/ University of Cape Town.

Brian Raftopoulos is Associate Professor at the Institute of Development Studies/University of Zimbabwe in Harare.

Ian Taylor is Lecturer at the Department of Political and
Administrative Studies/University of Botswana in Gaborone and
Visiting Research Fellow in the Department of Political
Science/University of Stellenbosch.
--
Dr. Henning Melber
Research Director
The Nordic Africa Institute
P.O. Box 1703
SE-751 47 Uppsala, Sweden
Tel. +46-18-56 22 20 (direct)
56 22 00 (exchange)
Fax 56 22 90
Website http://www.nai.uu.se/