Critiquing Zimbabwe's Praetorian Military between 2008 and 2017.

The article critically examines the emergence and role of a praetorian military in Zimbabwe between 2008 and 2017, focusing on how the Zimbabwean army became a central political and economic actor within the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF). It argues that the military conflated regime security with national security, leveraging the country’s enduring socio-economic crises to entrench its influence by intervening in electoral politics, managing state enterprises, and shaping succession battles within ZANU-PF. Key events include the military’s involvement in the ousting of former Vice President Joice Mujuru, its support for Emmerson Mnangagwa against the Generation 40 (G-40) faction, and the 2017 military coup that led to Robert Mugabe’s resignation. The study situates Zimbabwe’s military praetorianism within broader theoretical frameworks of civil-military relations, highlighting the military’s self-perception as guardian of the liberation struggle’s legacy and its instrumental use of political myths and patronage to maintain power.