Divides and Rules deals with a crucial episode of the democratization movement in Zimbabwe, the 2005 Parliamentary elections. In the wake of these elections, which were allegedly won through massive fraud by the ruling Zanu-PF party, the opposition party MDC and the various civic actors engaged in opposition politics faced a number of dilemmas. How to proceed, how to relate to each other, what strategic action to undertake - these were crucial questions. In analyzing the Zimbabwean situation, Divides and Rules makes a contribution to theoretical discussions on how to make understandable complex political processes such as democratization, principally by applying the dilemma approach proposed by James M. Jasper (2004). Central to this is that analysis should rest on the micro- foundations of social behavior, namely human agency and choice, while simultaneously situating these in their institutional and wider cultural settings.

In 2005, Pelle Berting (1980) conducted research in South Africa and Zimbabwe. He submitted ''Divides and Rules'' for the Conflict Studies & Human Rights program, Utrecht University, passing with distinction. Afterwards he became a conflict education practitioner at Critical Mass Foundation, equipping people in dealing with conflict processes.