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ZANU-PF's bigwig rallies as performative politics during Zimbabwe's 2008 and 2013 elections

Lewanika, McDonald (2023) ZANU-PF's bigwig rallies as performative politics during Zimbabwe's 2008 and 2013 elections. Journal of Commonwealth and Comparative Politics, 61 (3). 273 - 292. ISSN 1466-2043

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Identification Number: 10.1080/14662043.2023.2250064

Abstract

In rally-intensive campaigns, the rally is an essential mode of political communication between politicians, parties and citizens. This article moves beyond the exclusive focus, in most literature, on rallies convened for presidents and presidential candidates to include similar rallies convened for others significant enough to act as a proxy but are not themselves presidential candidates. It develops a broader category of what it refers to as ‘bigwig' rallies. In Zimbabwe, the bigwig rally constitutes a distinct sub-genre that occupies a distinct place in election campaigning. I ask: what do parties communicate through bigwig rallies? How do they produce rallies to generate those communications? Little prior research considers what is particular to the rallies convened in electoral-authoritarian regimes. In this article, I ask: what do ruling parties in electoral-authoritarian regimes communicate and how do they achieve this? It answers these questions through studying ZANU-PF in Zimbabwe’s 2008 and 2013 elections.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: © 2023 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
Divisions: Government
Subjects: J Political Science > JQ Political institutions Asia, Africa, Australia, Pacific
J Political Science > JC Political theory
Date Deposited: 19 Sep 2024 14:42
Last Modified: 12 Dec 2024 04:28
URI: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/125468

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