On Crossroads: Reflections on Zimbabwe’s Relations with Britain at the New Millennium

The period following the election of the Labour Party in Britain into power has seen the relations between Zimbabwe and its former colonizer, Britain deteriorating. Deterioration of relations has been witnessed in the actions of government officials, civil society groups, media organizations, academics and citizens. Antagonism between the two countries arises from the conflict of values1 essentially the pursuit of their divergent national interests in the postcolonial world where state autonomy is a myth coupled with the fact and the legacy of colonialism is very much alive. These divergent views, which are evident, bring into focus the nexus between land reform and economic development as well as issues on governance, human rights, political stability, race relations and equity. The network of class interest, commonality of interests and patterns of co-operation has a great bearing on a country’s foreign policy. Cooperation between nations exists primarily when there is a commonality of interests, of which absence of the same presents some degree of enmity, a situation depicted by the current state of relations between these two states.