Present-day Zimbabwe was the site of a large and complex African civilisation in the 13th and 14th centuries. It was populated by descendants of the Bantu tribes, who had migrated from the north around the 10th century. Mainly pastoral, evidence of their lifestyle may be seen in the ruins of Great Zimbabwe, near the present-day town of Masvingo.

The first contact with Europeans was with the Portuguese at the end of the 15th century. Relations between the two were fairly stable – the Portuguese were largely concerned with ensuring communications between their colonies in Angola and Mozambique on either side of Zimbabwe – until the 1830s, when the region was thrown into upheaval by the northward migration of the Ndebele people from South Africa. The Ndebele, who espoused a Zulu warrior tradition, effectively enslaved the indigenous Shona people until the end of the century.

At this point, a new aggressive breed of colonists arrived in the form of British mining interests led by Cecil Rhodes’ British South Africa Company (BSAC). The BSAC took control of the country – which they called ‘Southern Rhodesia’ – until 1923, when it became, nominally, a British colony. This followed a referendum (for whites only) on joining the Union of South Africa. Despite attractive terms from South African leader Jan Smuts, there was a heavy vote against the merger. From 1953–63, Southern Rhodesia formed part of the Central African Federation with neighbouring Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) and Nyasaland (now Malawi). In 1965, to resist decolonisation, the settlers – with South African support – issued a Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI). This triggered a bitter civil war between the white minority government and fighters for African independence, ending only in 1980, with the granting of independence and the holding of a general election under British auspices, which was won decisively by Robert Mugabe’s ZANU party.

The main focus of dissent in the early years was from Joshua Nkomo’s ZAPU opposition party – ZANU’s former ally in the ‘Patriotic Front’ that fought the guerrilla war against Rhodesia from their bases in Zambia and Mozambique. From 1985, however, the two parties moved towards a merger, which was peacefully achieved in January 1988. Named ZANU-PF, the party assumed undisputed political primacy, unchallenged by any significant opposition until the end of the 1990s.

At the beginning of 1999, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) was formed. The Movement has a strong base in the trade unions – party leader Morgan Tsvangirai was general secretary of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trades Unions – but also enjoys support from the white-controlled commercial farming lobby and elements on the far right who backed the Smith regime. The MDC performed creditably at the June 2000 poll, taking 57 of 120 elective parliamentary seats. But the Mugabe government then moved to remove or suppress its perceived opponents in the judiciary, the media and in other centres of influence to reassert its control.

Zimbabwe is now in a terrible state. The economy has all but collapsed. There is widespread famine, which has been cynically manipulated by the government so opposition strongholds suffer the most. The settlement of the Democratic Republic of Congo war has brought back Zimbabwe’s substantial military commitment, although some troops remain to secure the mining assets under their control. Most important of all, the government lacks the resources or machinery to deal with the ravages of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, which affects an estimated one-quarter of the population. With all this and the forced and violent removal of white farmers in a brutal land redistribution programme, Mugabe has earned himself widespread scorn from the international arena.

Presidential elections fell in March 2002. In the run-up to the poll, ZANU-PF, with the support of the army, security services and especially the so-called ‘war veterans’ – very few of whom actually fought in the Second Chimurenga against the Smith regime in the 1970s – set about wholesale intimidation and suppression of the MDC-led opposition. Despite strong international criticism, these measures, plus organised subversion of the electoral process, ensured a Mugabe victory. The government’s behaviour drew strong criticism from the EU and the USA, which imposed limited sanctions against the leading members of the Mugabe regime. Since the 2002 election, Zimbabwe has suffered further economic difficulty and growing political chaos. Parliamentary elections in March 2005, in which ZANU-PF won a two-thirds majority, were again criticised by international observers as being flawed. Elections for a new Senate in November 2005 were largely boycotted by the opposition. Mugabe's party won 24 of the 31 constituencies where elections were held amid low voter turnout. Most controversial has been Mugabe's urban slum demolition drive. The UN estimates 700,000 people have been left without jobs or homes as a result. It seems that only the removal of Mugabe will halt the spiral of decline. The president is now in his 80s and is coming under pressure to retire from other regional heads of state (including South Africa’s Thabo Mbeki, Mugabe’s only significant ally) and, more discreetly, from senior figures in ZANU-PF. Either way, Zimbabwe is shortly to reach a critical stage in its post-independence history.

Under the terms of the 1980 constitution, executive power is formally vested in the president, consulted by a prime minister, who, in reality, wields most power. He, in turn, is advised by a cabinet, which is responsible to the bicameral parliament, which wields all legislative authority. This consists of a House of Assembly, with 150 members, of whom 120 are elected by universal adult suffrage, 12 are nominated by the president, 10 are traditional chiefs and eight are provincial governors.