THE NATURE OF SECURITY
The formulation of a state's defence and security policies depend on its geo-strategic situation and the nature of the state itself especially its political and economic structures. It is also baised on the nature and spread of the state's interests and the current and potential challenges it perceives to those interests. The nature of defence is the military contribution to national security and is a major element of a government's wider security policy. Defence policy specifies the structure and capabilities of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces and guides the contribution they make to the achievement of the country's defence and security goals.
GEOGRAPHICALLY, Zimbabwe's Defence Policy is cast in a concentric circles paradigm. In the central circle lies Zimbabwe itself. Its immediate neighbors, namely Botswana, Zambia, Mozambique and South Africa occupy the second circle. In the third circle is the thirteen other member state of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
The rest of Africa in the African Union (AU) occupies the fourth circle. Finally, the rest of the world occupies the last circle.
This geographical delineation however, is not always mutually exclusive. It sometimes becomes blurred depending on the intensity and nature of relations that Zimbabwe may maintain with its cooperating partners from other parts of the world, including some outside Africa.
Domestically, the Policy constitutes an integral part of the political superstructure. It rests upon the socio-economic foundations of the society that it is meant to safeguard, the structures and institutions of the society, which are interwoven in a network of systems and sub-systems of social, cultural, economic, political, judicial, scientific, technological and military strategic relationships.
