Online Reporter
Gibson Nyikadzino
Zimpapers Politics Hub
In international politics, there are only two ways that states use to secure or defend their interests and survival — either through war or diplomacy.
War and diplomacy are the prime currencies at the disposal of states.
They are the vehicles they use to ensure what they have is defended and what they do not have is attained.
Russia’s Special Military Operation (SMO) in Ukraine, the United States’ war against Iran and Israel’s war in Lebanon are examples of how war, as the continuation of policy, is operationalised to achieve desired results.
Great powers use force because they are convinced they have key roles to play in international politics and they have overlapping interests, hence find it convenient to declare war.
That is the ambit of war.
On the other hand, diplomacy — itself a strategy states use to win over enemies, foes and friends such that their interests are in alignment while preserving core values — has been a currency used by Zimbabwe.
For a long time, the country lived with various labels that were meant to malign its sovereignty.
Some countries labelled it a “pariah and failed state”.
All these were disingenuous strategies meant to push the country out of the community of nations and isolate it.
This alienation was also necessitated by the belief that Zimbabwe was increasingly becoming radical and more combative, explaining why the United States and Britain, back then, proposed to South Africa their justifications to deploy boots on the ground in Zimbabwe.
This exhibits how great powers were keen on achieving their goals and interests through war.
However, since the inception of the Second Republic on November 24, 2017, Zimbabwe looked at itself as a country in the periphery that had to move to the core, get noticed and co-exist with others in the community of nations.
To achieve this, Zimbabwe settled on diplomacy, as opposed to war-like behaviour, combativeness or radical rhetoric.
From periphery to centre
Under the Second Republic, Zimbabwe has been a rational actor, making rational choices under the “friend to all and enemy of none” mantra without sacrificing its interests.
This has been projected in Zimbabwe’s foreign policy, where its commitments to dialogue, diplomacy, the upholding of international law and values have reignited interest from international political actors, constituting part of its engagement and re-engagement policy.
At first, Zimbabwe signalled intentions to seek re-admission into the Commonwealth, kick-starting the thawing of relations with Britain.
While the issue of Zimbabwe’s re-admission has not been positive, it continued opening lines of communication with Britain, where there have been cordial soft power efforts towards re-engagement.
This led to Zimbabwe’s reaffirmation to compensate white former commercial farmers for the developments they undertook on land that was reclaimed by the Government during the land redistribution exercise.
Within the ambit of diplomacy, efforts to realign and reconverge the interests of Zimbabwe and Britain were witnessed last year when the two played a Test match for the first time since 2003, when Britain
was still a member of the European Union (EU).
For Zimbabwe, sport has also been a useful soft power instrument to bring to attention the country’s potential in sports leadership following the election of the country’s former Sports Minister Kirsty Coventry to the helm of the International Olympic Committee.
Additionally, for the first time in the athletics category, Zimbabwe had two sprinters in the 200 metres final at the Paris 2024 Olympics — Makanakaishe Charamba and Tapiwanashe Makarawu.
Moving from the periphery to the core has been an effort by both the Government and individuals in various sectors.
Others who have contributed to this journey of significance are Dr Tatenda Shopera, a senior scientist at Pfizer who played a key role in developing the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine; and Dr James Manyika, the senior vice president for technology and society at Google and Alphabet.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also honoured Major Winnet Zharare with the 2021 Military Gender Advocate of the Year Award for her trailblazing work in South Sudan.
With its resource abundance, in particular those key for the just energy transition, and its strategic location in Southern Africa, Zimbabwe has also captured the attention of great powers.
The United States, Russia, China, France and South Korea have set their eyes on Zimbabwe’s critical minerals, which have attracted engagement, giving the country the right to leverage how it engages nations of interest.
With the goal to achieve an upper middle-income economy status by 2030, Zimbabwe also engaged with the Bretton Woods financial institutions.
Zimbabwe has managed to present its reform agenda and debt repayment plan that was led by former Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano.
In the tourism sector, in 2025, Forbes magazine ranked Zimbabwe as the top global travel destination, moving away from the pariah or failed state label that had been previously imposed without sticking.
After looking at all this, what has made Zimbabwe a rational actor under President Mnangagwa is that it is achieving its interests without being combative or radical but being deliberate in strategic engagements to preserve its values and cultivating its desire for survival.
SADC, UNSC and COMESA
At a time the international political scene seems to favour the Global South, had Zimbabwe followed a path of political radicalism and hurtful rhetoric, it would not have made the strides it made.
International reputations are fragile, and had Zimbabwe not pursued a path of cooperation, it would have posed challenges for it to receive overwhelming support from the SADC and African Union (AU) to contest the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) non-permanent member seat.
Of all the countries that contested the UNSC non-permanent seat, no country received such an overwhelming majority of votes.
The country’s relevance was certified by the 182 UN members that voted for its candidacy out of 191, a 99 percent expression of confidence in Zimbabwe’s importance and global character.
The same principle applies to Zimbabwe, which is expected to assume the chairmanship of COMESA next month.
This step exhibits a strong faith the world has in Zimbabwe.
Achievements attained symbolise the importance of diplomacy over war to secure desired interests.
