Zimbabwe's July 2013 election brought the country's "inclusive" power-sharing interlude to an end and installed Mugabe and ZANU-PF for yet another-its seventh-term. Why? What explains the resilience of authoritarian rule in Zimbabwe?

Tracing the country's elusive search for political stability across the decades, Michael Bratton offers a careful analysis of the failed power-sharing experiment, an account of its institutional origins, and an explanation of its demise. In the process, he explores key challenges of political transition: constitution making, elections, security-sector reform, and transitional justice.