Civil Society Organizations and the Democratisation Efforts in Zimbabwe: the Role of the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition in the Democratization Efforts in Zimbabwe

This research paper is a study of the role of one civil society, the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition in the democratisation efforts in Zimbabwe from the year 2001 to 2010. The democratisation efforts started prior to the existence of the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition by other forces of change like the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, students and ordinary Zimbabweans in the early 1990s. The period 2000 to 2009 witnessed a serious political ferment in Zimbabwe. The failure of the post-colonial state gave rise to the growth of civil society in that period. There was more vigorous personalization of political power by the state, authoritarianism and popular repression. The Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition was formed in 2001 as a nerve centre to coordinate other civic groups within its reach in the fight for democracy. This paper assesses how the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition has contributed to the process. It looks at how the Coalition is related to the grassroots and its relationship with the regional and international civil society organizations in its efforts at democratization. An analysis of the relationship between democratisation, democracy and civil society will be provided taking into cognisance the spaces, types of power and levels of power obtaining in Zimbabwe. The paper also investigates why the coalition has failed to expand at the grassroots level despite its success in making the world aware of the crisis of legitimacy and governance in Zimbabwe at the regional and international level. The nature of donor and civil society relations is also assessed to find out how it has impacted on the democratisation agenda.