Varieties of insecurity and rebel-civilianties across time: Evidence from post-war Zimbabwe
Literature on rebel governance has examined various ways in which rebels engage with civilians, build informal governing institutions, and exert social control during civil war. When rebels win, how does rebel governance affect post-war politics? This chapter explores how varieties of insecurity that the victor faces after war-external threat, internal challengers, or electoral politics-explain the role of rebel-civilian ties in helping the new ruling party to successfully consolidate power. I examine forty years of rebel government rule in Zimbabwe, where the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriot Front (ZANU-PF) faced different threats at different points in time from its wartime rivals, ex-combatants, and opposition parties. ZANU-PF’s strategies to eliminate these threats illustrate how rebel governance and rebel-civilian ties affect post-war politics differently based on ruling party constraints.
