The Role of Civil Societies in Post-Colonial Zimbabwe

 In Africa  the role of civil  society organizations  has  centered around acting as a training ground  for  future political leaders, monitoring elections,  constitution-making and civic education, economic and social policy making, Justice and reconciliation, humanitarian and food assistance as well as peace building amongst others. Zimbabwe has not been spared the influence of  Civil society in its political, economic and social  make up. This essay  seeks to  expose the role played by  Civil society organizations in post-colonial Zimbabwe.

In the immediate post colonial Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe African National  Union Patriotic  Front(ZANU-PF), took maximum advantage of an under-developed civil society   by claiming that ZANU(PF) was the sole legitimate representative of the people. Under the guise of this claim, the party declared itself to be the umbrella organization of all social movements and went about destroying civil society associations in the name of 'the revolution'. All 'legitimate' organizations were challenged by ZANU(PF) to join the ruling party as a way of proving their revolutionary and patriotic commitment(Sithole)( 1988 ).However another  school of  thought submits that Civil Society was nascent in the immediate post- colonial period  due to the independence euphoria –Zimbabwe had just gotten its independence from colonial rule therefore the Mugabe administration was the ideal vehicle for reconciliation, Unity and  development

To  define  civil  society, there are vast  literary  submissions on the  definition  of the  term, According to Sachikonye(1995) it is an  aggregate of institutions whose  members  are engaged primarily  in a complex  of non-state  activities-economic and  cultural production, voluntary associations and household  life – and who in this way  preserve and transform  their identity   by exercising all sorts  of pressures and controls upon  state institutions. According to Bratton (1994), it is defined  as a sphere of social interaction between the household and the state which is manifest in norms of community cooperation, structures of voluntary association, and networks of public communication. For  the purpose   of this  essay  a civil  society  organization is one  which is non-profit making, which is independent  from the state and represent a particular  constituence whose mandate is to  engage the state on issues of  common interests.

 In  the immediate post-colonial Zimbabwe,  Civil society  played a complementary role  to the state thus the organizations were largely  supportive of the state in areas of relief and poverty reduction. The state also supported the formation of  various CSOs such as Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions. CSOs as players in the governance  sector are  expected to be preoccupied with democracy, political and civil rights, constitutional reform and citizen participation. They  also campaign for transparency, accountability, anti-corruption in public and private sectors. CSOs in this sector attract higher visibility during election campaign . This  watchdog role of  the civil  society  began  to manifest in 1992  after the adoption  of  the  Economic  Structural Adjustment Programme (ESAP) without prior public consultation. Civil Society organizations such as  the Zimbabwe Congress for Trade Unions(ZCTU) organized anti-Esap  demonstrations which were met with  repression  from the state. This marked the beginning of antagonism between the  state  and civil  society. According to Rich 1998, During the second phase of ESAP thus 1995- 1999  a group of CSOs under the leadership of  the Ecumenical Support  Services  and the CCJP  embarked on  a  more proactive  campaign by urging government to,

“…open up national debate, discussion on both ESAP 1 and the content  of ESAP 2”, so as to  promote democracy  in the crafting  and implementation  of  national economic policies.

In 1997  civil society organization  such as the National Constitutional Assembly(NCA) pressurized the state into  drafting a new  constitution .The  Lancaster  constitution  of 1979  had   been meant to be a transitionary constitution   and it did not embody  the views of  Zimbabweans since it had been drafted  by  the Zimbabwean  elite and the whites. Besides being exclusionary to the ordinary Zimbabwean the constitution according  to Madhuku was like  a ” torn trousers” due to its numerous amendments to entrench Presidential powers. Civil societies therefore  challenged its relevance  to the Zimbabwean people thereby promoting  democracy. In 2000 the civil society played the role of  being the “voice of the voiceless” by lobbying  for the rejection of the draft constitution which had  deliberately ignored people’s views particularly on the executive powers of the President. The  government of Zimbabwe had shortchanged the people of Zimbabwe  through a shoddy Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku led   draft of  a new constitution. One can  say by instigating  a “NO” vote  at the referendum  the organizations  promoted people’s rights to  a democratic  constitution making   process.

CSOs engaged in human rights work deal with cases of violation of  rights by the state or its agents, the documentation of abuses and seek the redress of the violations. They also organize workshops and conferences on human rights, train human rights defenders and provide courses in conflict resolution and peace-building(Zimbabwe Institute). In the Post colonial Zimbabwe the  Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace(CCJP) documented the ZANU-PF influenced “Gukurahundi”  genocide of the 1980s in Matabeleland .By so doing the religious fraternity sought to limit unbridled state power on individual liberties(Mutambara 1991).The  CCJP was the first CSO to challenge  government  to take steps  to end the civil strife  that the country found itself embroiled in. To this day, CCJP, still takes  to court  deserving cases involving unlawful arrest  and detention or other  abuses on human rights. It also facilitates litigation against the state on behalf of victims  of political violence and other social injustices. In relation to the role played by CCJP, another CSO involved in human rights advocacy is the  Zimbabwe Human Rights  Organisation (Zimrights) which primarily deals with  the promotion of human rights ,democracy and good governance, information dissemination and research on human rights  issues, encouraging citizens to participate in choosing leaders, free legal representation. Notably, Zimrights successfully managed to persuade  government to  incorporate  human rights in the school  curriculum. Other civic organizations involved in human rights work include the Human Rights Trust of Southern Africa, the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, Amnesty International(Zimbabwe) and the Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights.

Other  CSOs in Zimbabwe are  engaged in providing civic education to citizens. This education

includes basic political rights as well as voter education.Their focus relates closely to that of those in the governance. For instance, Zimbabwe Electoral Support Network(ZESN) is engaged in broad governance especially electoral observation but also in provision of voter education(Zimbabwe Institute). Key CSOs involved in civic education  include Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP), Zimbabwe Civic Education Trust (ZIMCET) and the Civic Education Network Trust (CIVINET). There is considerable straddling of activities in civic education as some of these organizations also deal with documentation of human rights violations, on political violence and initiatives at peace-building at local levels.

An important component of civil society is the media whose ‘watchdog role’ is indispensable in society(Zimbabwe Institute). While the state-owned media cannot be classified as part of civil society , the independent media is. The independent media has borne a larger brunt of state repression. There are several media organizations that campaign for press freedom as well an end to authoritarianism. They include the Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe (MMPZ), the Media Alliance of Zimbabwe (MAZ), and MISA-Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ) represents the interests of journalists and campaigns for their freedom from suppression.

Faith-based organizations constitute a vital part of civil society. They are predominantly

based on churches and church-related organizations. Amongst notable faith-based organizations are the Zimbabwe Council of Churches (ZCC), the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference (ZCBC), the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe (EFZ). These organizations have been interested in areas such as constitutional reform and national reconciliation. A parallel initiative is that of the Christian Alliance (CA) which draws from church leaders and individuals from Catholic, Evangelical and Protestant churches, Bulawayo-based churches as well as from the Zimbabwe National Pastors Conference. The CA once  organized the Save Zimbabwe Campaign in conjunction with  opposition parties to bring pressure to bear on the Mugabe government.

A significant component of CSOs consists of organizations representing women’s rights in political, social and economic arenas. The organizations have drawn from both professional sectors of society as well as ordinary membership in both urban and rural areas. They include organizations such as Women’s Action Group (WAG), Zimbabwe Women Lawyers’ Association (ZWLA), Musasa Project and Women and Law in Southern Africa (WILSA), and Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA), Zimbabwe Women’s Research Centre and Network (ZWRCN), Women in Politics Unit (Wipsu) and the Women’s Trust. Some provide services, others research and advocacy across sectors including governance, human rights and civic education. Their main thrust is to  empower women  and integrate them into political and economic  spheres of the country. The introduction of the quota system in parliament is one such achievement of these CSOs.

Labour unions have been active sector of civil society both in the representation of workers’ interests and in campaigns for democratic governance. Representing more than 20 per cent of the total national work-force, they have exhibited greater organizational and mobilizational reach than most CSOs(Zimbabwe Institute). Their operations of unions range from civic education to human rights at work-places to networking with various civic coalitions.  One of labour’s major contributions was its role in the formative stages of the MDC which proved to be the strongest opposition movement since independence. Despite a state-sponsored attempt to promote a rival centre, the Zimbabwe Federation of Trade Unions (ZFTU), labour has remained a  cohesive social group in championing people’s interest in governance. Closely related to  labour movements are student and youth organizations  which form an active element within Zimbabwean . They organize in a sector that has witnessed decline in education and employment provision. Despite the long arm of state patronage and infiltration, such organizations as the Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU) and the Zimbabwe Student Christian Movement have been active in projecting the interests of students. Frequent arrests and torture have been unsuccessful in dampening student and youth activism.

In local government matters, residents associations have been important players in on matters of housing, water, electricity and access to other services. As the  economic   crises  deepened in 2007, the role of these associations  became pivotal Zimbabwe Institute).They have been in the forefront of resisting government measures against democratically elected MDC councils and mayors in the period from 2003 -2012. The sacking of mayors in cities such as Harare and the installation of state-appointed commissions compromised democratic governance and contributed to the deterioration of infrastructure and services in cities and towns. Amongst some of the active residents’ associations are the Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA), the Bulawayo Residents Association and the Mutare Residents Association. Various professional associations that contribute to the building of a civic culture and provision of expertise on legal and governance matters. They also contribute to capacity building in individual CSOs. Notable amongst such professional associations are the Law Society of Zimbabwe, Progressive Teachers Association amongst others.

 'As Zimbabweans, our new nation now demanded of us either as individuals, or as groups or communities, a single loyalty that is a proper and logical manifestation of our national unity and spirit of reconciliation.'

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1.Matongo, Irene. 2011. 28 Arrests in WOZA demo over ZESA bills. Accessed on 23

 September 2013. Available at:

http://www.zimbabwesituation.com/sept 23_2013.html#Z13

2. Moyo, Bhekinkosi; Muzondidya, James; Mlambo, Norman; Samasuwo, Nhamo; and

Umwina, Chantal 2007 - Study on Civil Society Organisations’ Engagement with

Regional Official Bodies and Policies: Capacity Development Initiative  of the UNDP

(Consultancy Report for the UNDP Southern and Eastern Africa Regional Office).

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eds., Dis(Enabling) the Public Sphere in Africa: Civil Society Regulation in Africa,

Volume 1 (Johannesburg: Southern Africa Trust and Trust Africa).

4.Ncube, Cornelius. 2010. Contesting Hegemony: Civil Society and the Struggle for

5.Social Change in Zimbabwe, 2000-2008. The University of Birmingham.

6.Zimbabwe institute 2010. Enhancing Democratisation and Development in

Transitional Zimbabwe through Innovative Policies: 2010 – 2012 (Research Proposal,

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 7 .Sithole M , 'Zimbabwe: In Search of a Stable Democracy', in

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How to introduce a dissertation.

Chapter One

                                                                       

1.      Introduction.

This dissertation examines the role of entrepreneurship in the socio-economic empowerment of women in Zimbabwe. It seeks to interrogate to what extent entrepreneurship impacts the socio-economic lives of women in Bulawayo. It will argue that though this is a single case scenario it is representative of the role of entrepreneurship in the socio-economic lives of women in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe and Southern Africa as a whole. The significance of entrepreneurship is that for some time it had the “for the uneducated or for the unskilled” stigma associated with, like it was a livelihood strategy meant for those who lacked better things to do however there is a recent paradigm shift which has bolstered it to the main arena of   viable livelihood strategies making it one of the key drivers of economic growth even for previously underprivileged groups such as women.

 Entrepreneurship has featured prominently in development discourses on ways to promote women’s social and economic empowerment. The issue of women’s empowerment in itself has taken centre stage in the development discourses of sub-Saharan Africa, as much as it has done in other parts of the developing world. According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM)( 2012) In 67 countries globally, as at 2012, approximately 126 million women were starting or running new businesses and 98 million were running already established businesses while an estimated 48 million female entrepreneurs and 64 million female established business owners  employed one or more people in their businesses. However, the rate of females engaged in entrepreneurship varies from 1 % to 40% globally. Thus, women entrepreneurs’ impact on innovation and job creation differs worldwide (Kelley et al., 2013). In Zimbabwe, entrepreneurship has been hailed as one way to open the economic arena for women and the government, through its line ministries such as the Ministry of Women Affairs, Gender and Community Development (MoWGCD) as well as the Ministry of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) has stressed the need to support women’s socio-economic empowerment through entrepreneurship.  With this emphasis on entrepreneurship for women in Zimbabwe, this study sets out to explore whether entrepreneurship is promoting women’s socio-economic sector in the country, focusing primarily on urban Bulawayo.

This chapter thus introduces the study on the effectiveness of entrepreneurship as a women’s socio-economic empowerment strategy in Bulawayo. It is composed of the background to the study, the statement of the problem, objectives of the study, research questions, conceptual and theoretical framework, significance of the study, delimitations and limitations of the study and the structure of the dissertation.

1.1  Background to the study

European nations have demonstrated that empowerment of female business people has  largely profited their economies as far as employment creation, income generation and general socio-economic development is concerned. According to the Centre for Women’s Business Research (2012) in America, women owned firms have an economic impact of $3 trillion that translates into the creation and maintenance of 23 million jobs, that is, 16% of all U.S. jobs. These jobs not only sustain the individual worker, but contribute to the economic security of families, the economic vitality of whole communities and the nation. According to Meng Xiaos (2011) the then Vice-President of All China’s Women Federation. In 2011 China had over 29 million female entrepreneurs, about 25% of the national total, among whom 41% were self-employed and private business owners. According to Kumo (2009), Africa is the second biggest continent in the world. However, it has a global wealth (GDP) of less than 4%, whereas its share in worldwide population is nearly 16%. As a Third World continent, Africa is largely characterized by very high rates of poverty, and stagnant economies and employment creation. According to ILO (2010), youth unemployment is a general phenomenon in the sub -Saharan countries.  ILO (2010) further points out that 60% of the unemployed in the Sub-Saharan region are youths. It is important to note that these unemployed youths amongst them women venture into either legal or illegal income generating activities in order to sustain their livelihoods. Under colonial administration, African women were primarily perceived as responsible for the depravity of African society (Schmidt, 1991). Thus colonialism, Christianity and capitalism together with traditional patriarchal structures collaborated to control the behaviour of women and the authorities used them as a general strategy to maintain control over indigenous African people, especially women. (Van Hook, 1994). Thus up to date, the space for female entrepreneurs remained constrained. Especially due to the merging of colonial and traditional African patriarchies, entrepreneurship was generally not encouraged for women. 

In 1980, women accounted for more than 52% of the total population of Zimbabwe (CSO, 2009). The economy was vibrant owing to the role of its previous or colonial administrators. However, the economy of the country took a downturn after the implementation of the Economic Structural Adjustment Programme (ESAP) in the 1990s, which gave birth to the ideology of corporate downsizing that  severely cast a shadow over the once prevailing pathway to success, and established the general perception that well-paying jobs were limited and difficult to acquire. ESAP policies included de-regularization of labour markets and opening up of national markets to international competition, leading to stiff competition between locally manufactured goods and the cheap imports. This resulted in the manufacturing sector losing the markets for their goods and undertaking massive retrenchments to cut down on the labour expenses. However, in the year 2000, the implementation of the Fast Track Land Reform attracted economic sanctions which closed trade routes especially with western countries. This greatly contributed to the rise of entrepreneurship as a strategy to substitute imports and thereby promote livelihoods among the urban unemployed populations.  Both educated and uneducated women in the country faced a worsened situation of unemployment which spurred them to turn to entrepreneurship as a source of finance.

The government of Zimbabwe noticed the importance of the small businesses sector as evidenced by the formation of the Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in 2002 and the introduction of the Small Enterprises Development Corporation (SEDCO) in later years to support upcoming entrepreneurs. SEDCO is a leading finance institution for the promotion and development of small and medium enterprises in the country. Its main role in indigenisation and economic empowerment has been to provide entrepreneurial finance, training and infrastructure. In February 2014 the Corporation’s name changed from Small Enterprises Development Corporation (SEDCO) to Small Medium Enterprises Development Corporation (SMDECO).The government of Zimbabwe also formed the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, Gender and Community Development (MoWAGCD) which plays a major role in empowering the Zimbabwean female entrepreneur. However, female business visionaries in Zimbabwe and around the globe keep on facing obstacles in their operations, requiring governments to configure suitable   measures to even the playing field for women entrepreneurs in juxtaposition to their male counterpart.

Realism and balance of power a thing of the past?

The world is made up of big , small, rich and poor, strong and weak nations. The world can be compared to a jungle where the fittest survive. Is this rule of any significance in this modern world? In this write up the writer will closely look at what is realism and balance of power politics and how these ideas were implemented in the older days. Furthermore the writer is going to make a closer look on whether these two ideologies are still applicable in this modern world.

According to Donnelly (2000) realism can be defined as a situation where countries seek to control power through forceful means. It is a process by which states can do whatever they can to ensure their survival in the international world even if it means resorting to war. Realism mostly resolves around anarchy and the belief is that for a country to maintain its interest, such country must resort to war. On the other hand power politics as proposed by Morgenthau (1946) is a form of international relations in which sovereign entities protect their own interests by threatening one another with military economic or political aggression. Power politics is essentially a way of understanding the world of international relations. Nations compete for the world’s resources and it is a nation’s advantage to be manifestly able to harm others.

Realism and balance of power politics clearly shows that states are power seekers and thus engage in constant struggle for the dominance of one another. Morgenthau (1985) pointed out that it is a characteristic aspect of all politics, domestic as well as international, that appear as what they actually are manifestation of a struggle for power. When power is not in one’s hand, such people become restless and can do anything to ensure that other powers do not rise above them.

A good example is the case of Russia’s invasion of Afghanistan in the 1970s. This led America to elect Ronald Regan as president and in order to prevent Russia’s growing powers he created the strategic defense initiative (SDI) which was able to send Russia into a state of oblivion. Another example is the US/USSR cold war. Though they didn’t engage in physical battles with one another, they were just wry of one another because they were the only surviving world powers after the Second World War. Mearshelmer (2001) observed that states struggle to protect their own interests and in the case of realism feeble things such as diplomacy or negotiation makes no sense. War is the only thing that can bring true peace, greedy and selfish.

Some of the techniques in power politics as given by Morgenthau(1946) include the following conspicuous nuclear development, pre-eruptive strike, blackmail, the amassing of military units on a boarder, the imposition of  tariffs or economic sanctions, bait and bleed and bloodletting, hard and soft balancing, black passing, covert operations, shock and asymmetric welfare. Nations or states can do anything to ensure that they maintain power over others. The formulation of realism is that all human beings act according to their own self-interests or survival that nation states are similarly guided by this same self-interested need for survival. Walts (2003) stresses that the realism theory divorces all considerations of legality and moral guidance from state policy and holds that all states are capable of breaking any law, treaty or alliance if they feel it is necessary to advance their interests and power.

As it has been shown realism observes that international politics or the behavior of states towards each other is based on the constant struggle for power. So long as the notion of self-help persists, the aim of maintaining the power position is paramount to other considerations (Walts, 2003). This power politics can lead to a balance of power or power equilibrium. This refers to a condition whereby  the power of one state is literary balanced by the equivalent power of another state or set of states as it has been the case during the cold war between the USA and the USSR or NATO and the Warsaw pact .

On the other hand the power in disequilibrium describes a condition in which the distribution of power among the contending state is not balanced. As propounded by Kigley and Wittkopf (2004) this condition clearly favors the leading hegemony may result in the abuse of power by the strongest state which neutralizes other states and may feel free to be the deciding voice. This seems to be the case with the USA after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Morgenthau (1948) assets that it has been standard American policy to maintain unchallengeable supremacy in the western hemisphere. The balancing process can be carried on either by diminishing the weight of the heavier scale or by increasing the weight of the higher one. The balance of power would have to signify a policy aimed at changing the status quo or at preserving it. Morgenthau (1948) offers four ways in which this balancing of power can be done. The first form is to make a hostile state weak by dividing it or keeping it divided e.g. the soviet union from 1920s has consistently opposed the union of western Europe. The US intervention in Afghanistan and Iraq could be seen in the same light.

The second manner is to change, maintain or establish the balance through territorial compensation. During the later part of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century the principle of compensation was again deliberately applied to the distribution of colonial territories and the delimitation of colonial or semi-colonial sphere of influence. Although this particular form of maintaining the balance among European power and their dominance in the world worked for a while it later led to the first the First World War because of fundamental conflict of interests among European powers.

The third way in which a policy can change, maintain or re-establish the balances through arm races or disarmament. However Morgenthau (1948) maintains that the arms race is unstable because it increases the burden of military preparations devouring an ever greater portion of national budget and making forever deepening fears, suspicions and insecurity. Lastly alliances are historically the most significant manifestation of balance of power. In this case, alliances can be either a policy aimed at changing, maintaining or re-establishing the balance e.g.  Nation A and B, competing with each other to maintain and improve their relative power positions can add to their own power, the power of other nations. The argument as seen by Kegley and Wittkopf(2004) is that alliances can destabilize a peaceful situation at least in five ways. The first one is that alliances would enable aggressive states to combine military capabilities for aggression. Secondly alliances threaten enemies and provoke them to form counter alliances threaten enemies to form counter alliances which reduce the security for both nations. Thirdly alliance formation may draw otherwise neutral parties into opposed coalitions. Fourthly once states join forces they must control the behavior of their own allies to discourage each member from reckless aggression against its enemies which would undermine the security of alliances of other members and lastly the possibility always exists  that today’s ally might become tomorrow’s enemy.

While realism and balance of power politics emphasizes and clearly shows that states were ensuring that their power was to be felt by other states there seems to be a paradigm shift. It appears that roles of external and internal actors are having major effect on the international system. Snyder (1984) pointed out that it is harder for the normally state centric realist to explain why the world’s superpower announced a war against Al-Qaida a non-state terrorist organization

More state actors have recently become increasingly more important and influential in the international system. This may be due to the change of international system or lack of sovereignty when dealing with international organizations. These external actors are constantly affecting and influencing the behavior of sovereign states and the international system on matters of both domestic and international affairs such as stance in climate change, this may be due to the anarchical system realist believe exist where there is no central global government presiding over the international system where those with more power will go unchallenged.

The strong dogmatic emphasis placed by realism on states being the primary actor in international relations is currently and will continue to be determined by powerful international organizations such as NATO who from August 2009 are currently involved in counter piracy operations of the horn of Africa something sovereign states would normally do, or better yet. NATO also established a no fly zone in Libya in 2011. This actually showed that power is vested in some organizations to determine the world order unlike being vested in a state.

Non state actors are becoming more important and influential in the international stage. The failure of realism to evolve alongside the pragmatic world of international relations makes it irrelevant due to its inability to combat new threats that are not related to the state, a key example being climate change. A sovereign state can willingly give up its power to non-governmental organizations on ground of environmental management.

It is strongly held belief by all realists that states have a monopoly over the use of organization force which is military but yet an increase in terrorism and insurgency in the world sees a shift from states being only one able to use organized force to non-state actors thus from this it can be deduced that states are no longerthe primary actors in international relations. Non state actors are taking center stage in international relations, state functions are being shifted to non-state actors. Gulick (1955) observed that the inability of realism to study other factors that affect international relations aside from its own core assumptions will effectively lead to its redundancy as most widely used theory in international relational relations that gives us an understanding of contemporary international affairs

The trend on world politics these days are consistent with the formulation of institutionalized arrangements which promote cooperation. Keohan (1977) explains that the realist tenet of the self-help is becoming more and more irrelevant as national states are making choices to join trading blocs and military defense for example looking at the European Union which is very much trade oriented as a prime example. Its increase in number of member states tells us that the autonomous self-help notion imposed by realism is being overshadowed by an interdependency of sovereign nation states.

States are acknowledging the benefits of cooperation rather than competition. In southern Africa there is Southern Africa Development Committee (SADC) which is there to promote trade, cooperation and also security issues. In east Africa there is a Common Market of Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) which also focuses on trade and security among member countries. Complex interdependency is now the order of the day among other nations.

 Snyder (1984) viewed that in the new political world realism service as best as a relic, a foundation of how people used to conduct international relations. Due to its non-pragmatism and its ineffectiveness, realism is unable to explain the contemporary international system i.e. the increased influence of non-state actors and demise in state to state conflict and the increase of state to state dependency.

Realism and tolerance of power politics appear to be useful in constructing an understanding of contemporary international affairs as it is simple rational and practical, in essence, as it is warning us to be safe than sorry with its rhetoric practice, however able to combat change and external actors. It is not fit to help us in contemporary international relations.

                                                                                                                                                           

REFERENCES

Carr, E. H. (1981) The Twenty Years’ Crisis New York Palgrave.

Donelly, J. (2000) Realism and International Relations.

Gulick, E. V. (1955) Europe’s classical Balance of power. New York.

Kegley, J. and Wittkopf, E. (2004) World Politics: Trends and Transformation. Belmont: Watsworth.

Keohan and Nye (1977) Power and Interdependence Boston: Little Brown.

Mearshelmer J. J. (2001) The Tragedy of Great power politics.

Morgenthau, H. J. (1948) Politics among Nations: The struggle for power and Peace; New York.

Morgenthau, H. J. (1946) Scientific man Vs Power Politics: Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Snyder, J. (1984) Civil- Military   Relations and the alt of   the   offensive international security Vo No. 1

Walt, S. (1987) The origins of Alliances Cornell University Press.

Walts, K. M. 92003) Realist Thought and Neorealist Theory.