Introduction
The history of any country is created by the leaders of this country. People make history. All events which occur in the history are provided by people. The more significant the event has which occurred, the better and more powerful leader was involved in the event. The power of any leader in any country depends on person’s qualities and the ability to organize the population of the country. A good leader is the person who maintains politics which is supported by citizens. But there are leaders who thought them to be good, but the style of their governing do not satisfy people’s expectations.
Robert Mugabe’s leadership style
Robert Mugabe is the current president of Zimbabwe since 1987. His style of government cannot be named as democratic one. When being young, Robert Mugabe was thought to be a great leader of his country, but he did not prove people’s expectations. His style of governing may be named as dictatorial. He got used to make decisions by himself and he does not care about the opinion of other people. Robert Mugabe thought his point of view to be the main and he has never accepted the other people’s opinions. The whole power of the country is concentrated in the hands of Robert Mugabe. Robert Mugabe provides lots of changes in the constitution which help him to stay as longer in the government of the country as it is possible. (Norman 2004)
Dictatorial style of government is usually effective as people are afraid of their leader, but at the same time the leader should be in constant tension as dissatisfied citizens are rather dangerous when their cup is filled. The rebellions may appear in different parts of the country and the military fight with the rebellions may put people in more dissatisfaction and anger about the politics provided by the leader.
Robert Mugabe is the person whose politics is effective only thanks to the military support. When Robert Mugabe considered it to be necessary to remove Joshua Nkomo from his way he turned for the help of country’s military. Joshua Nkomo was proclaimed to be a betrayer and had to escape from the country as faster as he could. (Chan 2003) This situation shows Robert Mugabe’s strict desire to provide the politics which he wants, without bearing any other side help of prompts.
Effectiveness of his leadership
The economy of the country suffered some difficulties in the times of Robert Mugabe’s beginning of ruling the country as the president. The beginnings of 1930s were characterized by low economical activities. The city’s economy was characterized by closure of industries and retrenchment of low- and middle- income earns in the private and public sectors. The reasons for these changes were the desire of the government to reduce country’s expenses.
Government tried to shift the finances from low income enterprises to more profitable ones. But government could not succeed in the situation, their plan about reduce of unprofitable enterprises had failed and the situation was worse. The foreign debt was lifted and the dependence of Zimbabwe from foreign countries became more felt. (Shillington 2005)
The country had a great economical potential, but it could not use it as the country’s economy was on a very low level. The country had entered the twenty-first century with a great foreign debt, low economical activities but a very powerful leader who managed to decide all conflicts by means of military power. Robert Mugabe’s politics created lots of borders for economy development. His desire to control all financial injections in the country pushed him for providing some changes to the constitution. According to these changes all foreign financial injections had to be controlled by black governors. These changes did not come for good of the country and lead to the reduction of foreign investments in the country. (Shillington 2005)
The main source of power in the politics provided by Robert Mugabe was the military force. Robert Mugabe used to decide all his problems by means of force and this style of governing the country was chosen by him as the most productive and successful. Military force is his main argument in different affairs inside the country and beyond the borders of the country.
Robert Mugabe misuses his power and even thinks that it must be so. All departments of the country are under his control and he may use them whenever and wherever he wants. As the example may be shown the situation with Joshua Nkomo which was described above and Robert Mugabe’s misuse of his power which helped him to get read from the person who did not want to obey Robert Mugabe’s commands.
Concerning the question of effectiveness of the power Robert Mugabe use, the answer is varied. Yes, Robert Mugabe’s military power is efficient as there is no one who dared to ignore his orders or managed to sustain before them. The dictatorial type of governing helped Robert Mugabe “to rule the country with iron fist” (Mowbray 2003). All the decisions were provided only with his assistance and under his supervision. All decisions which were offered had to correspond to Robert Mugabe’s interests.
The source of power and its analyses
The relations with other countries were also different. Robert Mugabe provided his politics and imposed his rules to the weak countries and at the same time he tried to maintain friendly relations with more powerful countries which support was very important.
Robert Mugabe’s style of ruling the country is autocratic and dictatorial. His word is the last and the only. He does not want to share his power and history shows that his desire is supported by different facts and actions, which he provided. He is sure that power should be maintained only by one person and only in this case order will exist in the country.
Conclusion
So, Robert Mugabe is a great leader to rule people and country from the point of view of his power. His military force is the main source of his power. People listened to him, he was the only source of political and economical decisions of the country. The paper does not focus very attentively on his misses and his mistakes as Robert Mugabe is analyzed from the point of view of leadership and not as economical expert.
Robert Mugabe managed to maintain his power in the country and country continues to develop. There were some mistakes in the economical sphere at the beginning of his political career of the president, but he tried to provide actions which could help him to overcome these problems. Robert Mugabe knows what to do and how to do this and this makes him differs from other leaders in modern world.
Reference List
Chan, S 2003, Robert Mugabe: a life of power and violence, I.B.Tauris.
Mowbray, J 2003, Dangerous diplomacy: how the State Department threatens America’s security, Regnery Publishing.
Norman, A 2004, Robert Mugabe and the betrayal of Zimbabwe, McFarland.
Shillington, K 2005, Encyclopedia of African history, CRC Press.