The Open Political Science Journal

2013, 6 : 1-9
Published online 2013 September 06. DOI: 10.2174/1874949601306010001
Publisher ID: TOPOLISJ-6-1

Botswana and Pivotal Deterrance in the Zimbabwe 2008 Political Crisis

Obonye Jonas , David Mandiyanike and Zibani Maundeni
Department of Political Science at the University of Botswana, Botswana.

ABSTRACT

This article seeks to explain the pivotal role that Botswana played in the light of the Zimbabwe political crisis after the 2008 election. It argues that Botswana was able to apply pivotal deterrence in Zimbabwe between the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) that claimed to have won the March 2008 presidential election and the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU PF) that claimed to have won the June 2008 presidential re-run election in which Robert Mugabe stood alone. This article deploys the theory of ‘pivotal deterrence’ to investigate the influence that Botswana had over the MDC and ZANU PF.

Keywords:

Botswana, pivotal deterrence, preventing civil war.