When militarisation endangered both human and state security: The Zimbabwean experience, 2000–2008

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article uses the case of Zimbabwe to explore how militarisation endangers both human and state security. While militarisation in Zimbabwe manifested itself in several ways, this study focuses on prioritising military solutions to most of the real or perceived security problems in the country between 2000 and 2008. Using data collected through review of available literature and interviews with officials in the public and private sectors, the article argues that the military-style operations were a threat to order and national security in both the short term and long run because they undermined human security. This is the case despite the fact that the military-style operations, similar to other manifestations of militarisation in Zimbabwe, were mooted and implemented framed in human and state security discourses. The article concludes that the prioritisation of military solutions to every security problem works to safeguard the governing elite but worsens instead of addressing the citizens’ problems with far-reaching implications for human and state security. For human security to be realised, Zimbabwe needs to discontinue militarised governance and capacitate responsible government ministries and departments.