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- Title
Land, Political Power, and Violence in Republican Rome and Contemporary Zimbabwe: A Comparative View.
- Authors
Mlambo, Obert Bernard; McClymont, John Douglas; Zvoma, E.
- Abstract
This article seeks to undertake a comparative study of the politics of corruption and organized violence in two historically, geographically, and culturally distinct societies, namely the Roman Republic and contemporary Zimbabwe. Based on the assumption that power politics undercut spatial-temporal distinctions, as has also been observed by Finley,2 this study extrapolates the Roman Republic’s nexus of political power, land and violence into the case of contemporary Zimbabwe. The article frames part of its argument in one aspect of Marx´s social theory of production and also Michel Foucault’s view of power as not just an abstraction but a force that defines itself in practical situations where it enables individuals to achieve and/or block certain goals. Thus, in both political landscapes, we consider land as one of the crucial sites where power plays out, and in this sense, draw upon the study of the economy of sharing resources in different parts of the world. We also argue that agrarian violence, selfishness and corruption are not products of a specific mode of production per se; rather, they are consequences of the breakdown of civic life, and result from prolonged dictatorship.
- Subjects
POWER (Social sciences); LAND tenure; ZIMBABWEAN politics &; government, 1980-; ROMAN Republic, 510-30 B.C. -- Politics &; government; POLITICAL violence -- History; ROMAN Republic, 510-30 B.C.
- Publication
Journal of Pan African Studies, 2017, Vol 11, Issue 1, p153
- ISSN
0888-6601
- Publication type
Article