Zambezia (2000), XXVII (ii).BOOK REVIEWSBehind the Smokescreen: The Politics of Zimbabwe's 1995 GeneralElections By John Makumbe and Daniel Cornpagnon, Harare, University ofZimbabwe Publications, 2000, 340 pp, ISBN 0-908307-83-7, ZW$640Behind the Smokescreen is a welcome addition to the growing literatureon elections and democracy in Zimbabwe even though the book comesfive years after the 1995 Zimbabwean general elections. The book offersan informed and critical analysis of the limitations of the electoral processin Zimbabwe. It documents the various factors and developments thatpreceded the elections and made the holding of democratic electionsimpossible. Among these were constitutional and legal impediments, thestate's control of the media, the politics of fear and intimidation,corruption, patronage, and a weakened opposition which suffered from,among other problems, a lack of funds. Moreover, the elections were heldin an unwholesome atmosphere characterised by escalating factionalismwithin the ruling party in Masvingo Province and Mutare, various problemsin the Harare South constituency, lack of transparency and democraticvalues in the Zimbabwe African Nationa Union Patriotic Front (ZANU PF)primary elections, and the boycott of the elections by some oppositionparties. In their incisive Chapter on the media, the authors highlight howfree and fair elections cannot be possible without a fair press.Behind the Smokescreen also demonstrates clearly howauthoritarianism and personalist rule were hidden behind a facade of aflawed parliamentary democracy. This dichotomy between appearanceand reality is well captured in the book's title which suggests that, whilethe ruling party was speaking in the rhetoric of democracy andtransparency, it was in fact more concerned with displaying the outwardtrappings of liberal democracy, such as regular elections, oppositionparties, parliament, a "free" press, international actors and observers,rather than with the substance of democracy. The ruling party's projectin the elections was the legitimisation and entrenchment of ZANU PF'shegemony and not conducting a true and fair test of the people's wishes,particularly given the undemocratic and unfair constitutional and legalframework over which it presided and under which the elections wereheld. Furthermore, the ruling party took advantage of and benefited fromvoter apathy, as most people turned their backs on the electoral processand only a few bothered to vote.The book's major strength lies precisely in its ability to criticallyanalyse the shortcomings of Zimbabwe's constitutional and legalframework which governed the conduct of the 1995 general elections and283284 BOOK REVIEWSthe partisan nature of the country's institutions that is clearly highlightedin the handling of Margaret Dongo's charge of electoral fraud against theruling party. It demonstrates clearly that the institutions for runningelections were, in fact, structured specifically for a one party state. It isthus the book's critical and insightful analysis of the nature of theauthoritarian state and the way it manipulates the electoral process inorder to ensure its continued rule and dominance which distinguishes itfrom other existing studies of Zimbabwe's electoral politics.The above notwithstanding, however, the book could have beenenriched by an analysis of the Zimbabwean people's political culture andlevel of political consciousness both before and during the elections asthis would have helped to explain both the voter apathy and the seemingwillingness of the people either to ignore or tolerate the manipulation ofthe electoral structures and institutions by the ruling party. It would alsohave thrown some light on why the Zimbabwean people refrained fromsupporting the various opposition parties that were seeking to end ZANUPF's hegemony. An examination of these and other issues would haveproduced a more nuanced analysis of the forces at work in the 1995 and1996 elections and would have provided an interesting backdrop tounderstanding the changes that appear to have occurred in the people'spolitical culture after those elections. Clearly, the Zimbabwean people'spolitical consciousness changed since 1995, as is evident in the June 2000elections in which, despite all the shortcomings of the national constitutionand the flawed electoral process that Behind the Smokescreen refers to,the opposition managed to win 58 parliamentary seats. Indeed, the levelsof intimidation and violence were higher in the 2000 elections than in theelections examined in the book, yet this did not deter the Zimbabweanpeople from voting in large numbers and expressing their wishes. Thebook could also have been enriched by the authors spelling out moreexplicitly what theory/theories about elections and democracy in Africainformed their analysis rather than limiting themselves as they do tomerely documenting events and political developments in the periodleading to the elections that they examine.The above weaknesses notwithstanding, Makumbe and Compagnonhave produced a book that is strikingly detailed and insightful. Behind theSmokescreen will undoubtedly prove to be a very important contributionto the debate on constitutional and electoral reforms in Zimbabwe. Itshould appeal to all students of political science and members of civilsociety who are interested in Zimbabwe's electoral politics.University of Zimbabwe BERTHA CHIRORO