“This book is not a partisan project. The contributors write from diverse perspectives
and none received payment. Almost all are united by criticism of Mugabe, but this is
not a counsel of despair. The aim of this collection is to assess the prospects for lasting change, and to identify the policy priorities on which such change might be founded. Much of this book is devoted to analysis of what has gone wrong, for the simple reason that any useful prognosis must take account of what has gone before. As Mugabe himself stated in his eve of independence address in 1980, progress means coming to terms with history: “Independence will bestow on us a new personality, a new
sovereignty, a new future and perspective, and indeed a new history and a new past.”
