On March 29, Zimbabweans voted in presidential and parliamentary elections. More than a month later, the government of Robert Mugabe released results of a "recount," showing a narrow opposition victory that fell short of the 50 percent required to avoid a runoff. The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) claims that it won an outright majority and that the government had ample time to distort the election results. MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai has not yet announced whether he will participate in a runoff. Meanwhile, there have been widespread reports of violent government crackdowns on MDC supporters, creating a climate of intimidation throughout the country and raising doubts about the possibility of a free and fair second round of elections. All of this is a far cry from the vision Robert Mugabe laid out in his Winter 1987/1988 Foreign Affairs article, "The Struggle for Southern Africa." At the time, Mugabe denounced the violence of South Africa's apartheid regime and called upon the United States to place greater pressure on Pretoria. Today, the tables have turned. With 165,000 percent inflation and 80 percent unemployment paralyzing the Zimbabwean economy, the West is calling for South African president Thabo Mbeki and other African leaders to pressure Mugabe to step down.

• Full text of original essay (Winter 1987/1988)

Special Feature

Oil Ills
The latest results from the Confidence in U.S. Foreign Policy Index reveal that the American public is anxious about increasing prices at the pump, and that economic issues are increasingly driving foreign policy attitudes. Achieving energy independence is now respondents' number one foreign policy concern. Six out of ten Americans say reducing energy dependence would strengthen our nation's security "a great deal," the highest percentage since the Index's inception. The public's preference for diplomacy, always strong, has also increased dramatically, particularly with regard to Iran.

The Index is a joint venture of Public Agenda and Foreign Affairs, produced with major support from the Ford Foundation. It tracks the changing state of mind of average Americans toward foreign policy, probing deeper than typical polls and examining core strategies and beliefs about the United States' role in the world.

• Public Agenda Confidence in U.S. Foreign Policy Index, Spring 2008
• Earlier versions of the Index, along with Foreign Affairs articles by Public Agenda's Daniel Yankelovich

Previously in Background on the News

Blame the Banks
April 9, 2008
Sebastian Mallaby's Foreign Affairs article defending hedge funds appeared in January 2007, before the onslaught of credit market turmoil. More than a year later, hedge funds still appear to need allies wherever they can get them. . . . Read more

Tibet's Tiananmen?
March 26, 2008
On March 14, anti-Chinese riots erupted in Lhasa, Tibet. Chinese security forces suppressed crowds with teargas and bullets in what has become the most violent confrontation there in two decades. The Tibetan government-in-exile claimed Chinese forces killed over 100 people, while Beijing claims only 19 have died. Tibet's exiled leader, the Dalai Lama, urged his followers and the Chinese to refrain from violence while the Chinese government blamed him directly for fomenting the unrest. . . . Read more

Serbia's Final Frontier?
March 12, 2008
Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence on February 17 was welcomed in Washington and many European capitals, but it drew protests in Moscow and Belgrade. . . . Read more

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