Robert Mugabe’s ZANU (PF) party has dominated Zimbabwe since independence in 1980 and came to power with an avowedly revolutionary and Marxist-Leninist ethos and world-view. But Zimbabwe’s position on the world stage and in Africa has been profoundly affected by practical political, economic, and international considerations at variance with the region’s ideology. The author illustrates these tensions and the failure to restructure internal and international economic relationships--neither acknowledged nor explained for the electorate--and draws striking parallels with other emergent states in the developing world.