The ideological formation of the Zimbabwean ruling class

Abstract

This article uses Gramscian perspectives on hegemony and intellectuals to trace the contradictory formation of the contemporary Zimbabwean ruling class. It argues, contrary to views claiming that there is no hegemonic discourse (or, presumably, class) in Zimbabwe, that the present ruling group has consolidated and is maintaining its hegemony. To be sure, such a process is unstable and subject to much contestation, but the historical evidence indicates that the nascent state class has handled such contradictions —many of which were internal to it —with a judicious balance of persuasion and force. The main ideological contradictions experienced by the intellectuals on the road to power —an early form of ‘populism versus elitism’ and a later one of ‘Marxism versus capitalism’ —were resolved in favour of the latter tendencies through a process of physical sidelining and discursive absorption. There is little reason to believe that the contemporary ruling class will not continue to maintain its position in such a manner.