Paper short abstract:

This paper uses the prism of political imprisonment in 1980s Zimbabwe to explore the ways in which policing and punishment moved between legal and extra-legal institutions and places and to consider the implications of these processes and practices for the making of a new political order and state.

Paper long abstract:

Zimbabwe's transition to majority rule was marked by violent political repression that only came to an end with the Unity Accord of 1987, under which the ruling ZANU(PF) absorbed its rival nationalist party, ZAPU. This period was in part characterised by an extremely uneven military conflict in which civilians loyal to ZAPU bore the brunt of state violence, but it was also a period of political transition in which the role and rule of law featured centrally. The paper explores the ways in which the legal and repressive legacies of the Rhodesian state and the notions of order and authority held by the nationalist parties and armies were invoked and contested through practices of political detention and imprisonment. These practices required both appealing to and subverting the law by moving policing and punishment between legal and extra-legal institutions and places. Contestation over these processes and practices powerfully shaped the making of the new political order and state.