Economic Development In Zimbabwe Essay -- essays research papers

Economic Development in ZimbabweThe country of Zimbabwe is one of the close economically create on the Africancontinent . A fairly young political entity, Zimbabwe has only enjoyedrecognized autonomy since 1980, the year in which the join Kingdom repea leadits imperialistic claims to the African nation . Despite its youth the countryhas achieved a level of economic development uncharacteristic of sub-SaharanAfrican nations. encourage only to South Africa in economic development, Zimbabweseconomic system is one indicative of a transitional country, a country makingthe transition from dependency underdevelopment to self-reliantindustrialization. The purpose of this essay is to make a cursory but adequateexamination of Zimbabwean socio-economic and political system, as means toanalyzing the countries economic development. The eventual(prenominal) purpose of this studyis to provide a set of the construction necessary to achieve economic developmentwhere none previously existed. Zimbabwe is an appropriate model because the kinetics of underdevelopment to development in this country are readily apparent.This model can be useful in understanding underdevelopment in other so called"third-world" countries and in determining what is necessary for these countriesto make the transition to industrialization.GeographyZimbabwe is a landlocked country in the southern, sub-Saharan area of theAfrican continent bordered by South Africa to the South, Botswana to the West,Mozambique to the East and Zambia to the North. With an area of 391,090 km2Zimbabwe is only slightly larger than the state of Colorado. Harare isZimbabwes capital and largest city with a population of 1,100,000. Containingvast amounts of rare mineralogical resources and possessing a favorable growingclimate Zimbabwes economy is drawn almost equally between the mining ofminerals ($2.2 billion) and the production of staples and cash crops ($2.1billion) .PeopleZimbabweans are comprised of two native ethnic groups, the Shona, comprising74% of the population and the Ndebele comprising 20%. Other ethnic black groupsand Asians make up 4% of the population while whites make up retributory over 1% of thepopulation. Zimbabwe has a population of 10.35 million people with a populationdensity of 24 persons per km2. 1992 census figures estimate Zimbabwes growth at3.0% with 90% of this growth ... ...ble workforce. Finally, Zimbabwe participates in non-aligned tradefor non-strategic products such as textiles. This greatly reduces the countrieschance of becoming dependent on a trade partner.ConclusionIn some ways Zimbabwe is a model for third-world economic development. Althoughnot yet fully developed Zimbabwe clearly has the potential to be a full fledgeddeveloped nation. Beyond its vast resources Zimbabwe is structured in a way topromote development. This fact in and of itself distinguishes Zimbabwe from mostother Lesser Developed Countries (LDC). Zimbabwes economic structure is one in which they are essentially self-sufficient and trade only for profit or forconsumer goods. Also they perform trade with many partners with no individualpartner comprising garnering more than 15% of import or export goods. Bystructuring the Zimbabwes economic system in a way that keeps its partnersdiversified and its imports non-strategic, Mugabe has successfully led hisnation to the path of development. The barriers left to full development arequite minimal compared to the ones already dominated, The structure ofZimbabwes economic system is truly a model of economic development.