'Tapping into the chaos' : crisis, state and accumulation in Zimbabwe.

Abstract

The conjunctural dynamics of the Zimbabwe crisis after 2000 have produced a distinctive pattern of accumulation .Four features are noticeable in this pattern - firstly ; disorder and/or violence has become common , both as a general feature and driver of wealth accumulation and the political project accompanying it . Secondly ; the State has increasingly become more central and pervasive in driving accumulation and in the distribution of both economic and political goods . Thirdly , the crisis has awakened , reinforced and reshaped a distinctive acquisitive culture peculiar to the period in question , albeit resonating with the historical formation of Zimbabwe's ruling elite . Lastly , the current crisis has modified and reinforced a culture of 'strategic contradictions ' within ZANU-PF . This dissertation is an analysis of Zimbabwe's 'political economy of crisis ' in the post 2000 period . It examines how the Zimbabwean ruling elite and those connected to the state have benefited from the unregulated forms of accumulation attending the Zimbabwean crisis . A broad combination of a contextual analysis of the crisis and its beneficiaries and a close case-study analysis of an 'informal ' (illegal ) gold-mining site in Totororo , rural Kwekwe's 'Empress ' are a in Central Zimbabwe are employed to try to distil accumulation patterns that have resulted from the present economic and political crisis .