of violent conduct, vitriolic expressive metaphors and intimidation from and by political agencies are frequent. In a normal democracy, political contestations are critical and necessary, but they need to be free and fair, both substantively and procedurally. This is true for election contestations which should provide a nonviolent means to the contestations for power, and unambiguously make society more peaceful. Those elected through this process, ideally should exercise their decision making powers, subject to the rule of law throughout the period they will be in power, and abide by the Constitution. This principle applies also to the rest of the citizens. Unfortunately, this has not been the case in Zimbabwe; past political violence trends show accounts of reprisal violence, for example; in weeks towards the 2008 runoff election, MDC-T supporters were attacked incessantly by government agencies and ZANU PF supporters. The crisis brought the country to a standstill. Despite SADC’s efforts to force the belligerent parties into a coalition government called the Government of National Unity, 2009-2013, ZANU PF and opposition parties remained strange bed fellows and took every opportunity to slime each other. As Zimbabwe draws nearer to the 2018 elections, violent settlement of differences picks up again. While ordinary citizens continue to sholder the brunt of political violence, violent confrontation between the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) officers in Harare CBD and uniformed forces of the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) on 01 August 2017 point to the testimony that violence is weapon of choice in Zimbabwe and little care about the concequences. Even in intra-party differences, violence is easy to deploy. For instance, the Movement for Democratic Change- Tsvangirayi (MDC-T) party has also been implicated in this intra-party violence recently in Bulawayo, when its party youth stormed into a meeting organised by three senior officials leaving one of the deputy presidents, Thokozani Khupe, hospitalised. The MDC leader, Morgan Tsvangirayi confirmed this violent incident in a statement issued on Monday 07 August 2017. Violence by what ever means or desription is bad for everyone. The costs of violent acts are heavier for the economy and relationships. The fury tempers and acts of retaliation often lead to cycles of violence making society less peaceful6. This has to be addressed. In April 2017, the IMF African Department director, Abebe Aemro Selassie noted the criticality of addressing violence in any given society. This is because it is not good for the economy. He notes “it is very important to have a more comprehensive policy package, which addresses a lot of the fiscal challenges that the country is facing and a lot of the structural reforms that have to be done to address Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown.” The economic implosion has contributed to social suffering and anger and the politicians take advantage of citizens’ poverty and desperation to manipulate them into commiting politically violent acts in the furtherance of their political capital. 6 The Political Violence Cycle S. P. HARISH New York University ANDREW T. LITTLE Cornell University