Mugabe’s Look East Policy in the Context of Iran: Afrocentricity and Mugabeism

Abstract

Zimbabwe’s Look East Policy particularly the country’s relations with China has drawn the attention of the media, academics, and scholarly literature. The introduction of the unwritten Look East Policy in 2003 saw the deepening of relations between Zimbabwe and countries in Southeast Asia, the Far East, and the Middle East. However, the literature focuses largely on Zimbabwe-China relations that were boosted by the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation at the broader level. Leaning on the Afrocentric theoretical framework the article analysed Mugabe’s Look East Policy in the context of Iran. The paper also leaned on Mugabeism which represents the ideology and personality of Mugabe as an influential political figure that dominated Zimbabwe’s political landscape and shaped the country’s policy direction at the domestic and international levels. Methodologically, the paper used desktop qualitative research that relied on primary and secondary sources. The article adopted Foreign Policy Analysis as an analytical tool and drew from Afrocentricity and Mugabeism as conceptual frameworks to shape the understanding of Zimbabwe’s foreign policy towards Iran. It contributes to the discourse on Mugabe’s Look East Foreign Policy which had focused largely on the challenges, failures and success of the Policy in the context of Zimbabwe-China relations. Alternatively, the paper analysed the role played by Mugabe as an individual decision-maker on the Policy in the context of Zimbabwe-Iran relations. It established that Zimbabwe-Iran relations were driven by Mugabe as an individual decision-maker. The Policy was informed by Mugabe’s disdain towards neoliberalism, his bad history with the West and as a proponent of an economy that is driven by Africans based on their historical and material conditions. The Policy is also attributed to Mugabe’s stubbornness and authoritarian characteristics. Keywords: Mugabe, Look East Policy, Iran, Afrocentricity, Mugabeism