Abstract This article focuses on the impact of the policies of the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) government on Zimbabwe's black middle class. It does so by exploring three propositions emerging from the academic literature. The first is that during the early years of independence, the middle class transformed into a party-aligned bourgeoisie. The second is that, to the extent that the middle class has not left the country as a result of the economic plunge from the 1990s, it played a formative role in opposition to ZANU-PF and the political elite. The third is that, in the face of ZANU-PF's authoritarianism and economic hardship, the middle class has largely withdrawn from the political arena.

中文翻译：

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飞行与坚韧：津巴布韦中产阶级的衰落

摘要 本文关注津巴布韦非洲民族联盟-爱国阵线（ZANU-PF）政府的政策对津巴布韦黑人中产阶级的影响。它通过探索学术文献中出现的三个命题来做到这一点。一是在独立初期，中产阶级转变为与政党结盟的资产阶级。第二，从 1990 年代开始，中产阶级并没有因为经济衰退而离开这个国家，它在反对 ZANU-PF 和政治精英方面发挥了形成性作用。三是，面对ZANU-PF的威权主义和经济困难，中产阶级已经基本上退出了政治舞台。