7. Zimbabwe, formerly known as Rhodesia, was a British colony for around ninety

Question

7. Zimbabwe, formerly known as Rhodesia, was a British colony for around ninety years. It became independent in 1980. The then Prime Minister of newly-formed Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, implemented a forced land redistribution policy, where commercial farms were confiscated from white farmers and turned over to black Zimbabweans. Mugabe also proceeded to confiscate shares in companies that were not owned by black Zimbabweans. In the following years, agricultural production in the country fell sharply. Zimbabwe, the country that used to be called the breadbasket of Africa, is now seeing food shortages in certain parts of the country.

a. Would Zimbabwe be considered to have extractive or inclusive institutions? Explain your answer.

b. Why would a government undertake policies that would adversely affect the lives of its citizens?

Explanation / Answer

7.

A
The country of Zimbabwe will be considered as extractive institution because the government does not care about all the section of the society. It is good to protect the poor people and make populist policies, but it does not give the right to forcibly take the property of one person (white people) and given that to another person (black people). There needs to be a proper policy planning regarding the land reforms as it happened in countries like India after the independence. But, the government never learnt and came with farcical policies.
Besides, the failure of the government towards the protection of private property rights also makes it a home of extractive institutions. As a result, the nation could never move on the path of growth and development in the true manner.

B.
When the government focuses only about the fulfillment of their own needs and makes policy that only favors the government institutions, then the polices will adversely affect the citizens. For example, the putting up an excessive taxation will benefit the government, but lack of attention on the infrastructure development will cause the people to suffer. It is what happened in the Zimbabwe. The policy of the government is to maintain the power within the hands of the government, rather making any welfare of the people. So, the lives of the people are adversely affected.

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse 7
• Subjects

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.