This chapter explores the causes, nature and extent of failure of the Zimbabwean state to meet its obligations between 2000 and 2008. It approaches state fragility through lenses of the service delivery capacity dimension. It will examine the causes for state fragility, the in/actions that precipitated the fragility and the scope and extent of state fragility. The chapter analyzes the decline in service delivery in the three sectors of education, health and agriculture. The study relies on secondary data including statistical indicators generated by the government of Zimbabwe, United Nations agencies, World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). It argues that the inherited colonial structural inequalities and exclusion in access to public services – based on race – established the root causes for state failure; and the post-independence policies, misappropriation of state resources, military adventurism and international isolation precipitated the decline of state delivery capacity. Regional intervention was significant in preventing further decline and instigating efforts to reconstitute the service delivery capability of the state.

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