Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T19:14:06.582Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Reagan Foreign Policy Toward South Africa: The Ideology of the New Cold War

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 May 2014

Robert Fatton
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

William Foltz (1978) has argued that the vital economic and strategic interests of the United States are so limited in scope that the making of an American policy toward South Africa is freed from any serious constraints. As such, South Africa represents “in political terms, something of a ‘freeplay area’ for American political leaders,” and an area where the “most prudent and cost-effective policy to protect American economic and strategic interests would be to work with, rather than against, the indigenous African forces of change” (Foltz, 1978: 267–68). While Foltz's argument may indeed be empirically and objectively correct it has certainly been rejected by the Reagan administration. This rejection stems in large measure from the administration's ideological world view which has contributed to the development of the policy of “constructive engagement” toward South Africa.

Constructive engagement holds that U.S. interests are best served by developing stronger economic and cultural ties with white South Africa. The conviction is that such ties will contribute to the gradual liberalization and ultimately to the demise of apartheid. These ties, it is argued, will support and encourage the political ascendancy of a modernizing autocracy of enlightened white elites. The latter's commitment to change, so the argument goes, will transform South Africa into a multiracial democracy and consequently into an acceptable and trusted partner in the overall Western system of defense. This line of argument rests on a particular set of intellectual constructs derived from a general system of beliefs.

Type
Articles
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 27 , Issue 1 , March 1984 , pp. 57 - 82
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1984

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adam, Heribert. 1971. Modernizing Racial Domination. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Adam, Heribert and Giliomee, Hermann. 1979 Ethnic Power Mobilized. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
African National Congress, n.d. Great Power Conspiracy. Dar es Salaam.Google Scholar
Alperovitz, Gar. 1970. Cold War Essays. Cambridge: Schenkman.Google Scholar
Baker, James E., de St. Jorre, John and O'Flaherty, Daniel J. 1979. “The American Consensus on South Africa.” Worldview 22 (10): 12–16.Google Scholar
Barnet, Richard J. 1973. Roots of War. New York: Penguin Books.Google Scholar
Barnet, Richard J. 1981. Real Security. New York: Simon and Schuster.Google Scholar
Biko, Steve. 1978. I Write What I Like. Edited by Stubbs, Aelred. New York: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Business Briefing. 1982. “Avoid Strategic Materials Shortages!” Prescon Business News Agency.Google Scholar
Callinicos, Alex and Rogers, John. 1978. Southern Africa After Soweto. London: Pluto Press.Google Scholar
Cell, John W. 1982. The Highest Stage of White Supremacy. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Chomsky, Noam. 1982. Towards a New Cold War. New York: Pantheon.Google Scholar
Clark, Dick. 1978. U.S. Corporate Interests in South Africa. Report to the Subcommittee on African Affairs of the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate.Google Scholar
Crocker, Chester. 1978. “The Quest for an African Policy.” The Washington Review 1 (2): 65–77.Google Scholar
Crocker, Chester. 1980a. “Statement of Chester A. Crocker.” U.S. Policy Toward South Africa. Hearings Before the Subcommittees on International Economic Policy and Trade on Africa and on International Organizations of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, House of Representatives, Ninety-Sixth Congress.Google Scholar
Crocker, Chester. 1980b. “African Policy in the 1980s.” The Washington Quarterly 3 (3): 72–86.Google Scholar
Crocker, Chester. 1980/1981. “South Africa: Strategy for Change.” Foreign Affairs 323–51.Google Scholar
Crocker, Chester. 1981b. “Excerpts from Policy Speech on Southern Africa.” New York Times, August 30.Google Scholar
Crocker, Chester. 1982a. “U.S. Interests in Africa.” Department of State, Bulletin, 82 (2058): 23–26.Google Scholar
Crocker, Chester. 1982b. “The African Private Sector and U.S. Foreign Policy.” Department of State, Bulletin, 82 (2059): 27–30.Google Scholar
Crocker, Chester. 1982c. “Challenge to Regional Security in Africa: The U.S. Response.” United States Department of State, Bureau of Public Affairs, Current Policy No. 431: 1–5.Google Scholar
Crocker, Chester. 1983. “The Search for Regional Security in Southern Africa.” United States Department of State, Bureau of Public Affairs, Current Policy No. 453: 1–4.Google Scholar
Davidson, Basil. 1978. Let Freedom Come. Boston: Atlantic Monthly Book.Google Scholar
Denton, Jeremiah. 1982. Soviet, East German and Cuban Involvement in Fomenting Terrorism in Southern Africa. Report of the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Security and Terrorism to the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, Ninety-Seventh Congress.Google Scholar
Department of State Bulletin. 1977. “Address by President Carter at the Commencement Exercises of Notre Dame University.” LXXVI, 1981 (June 13): 621–25.Google Scholar
Department of State Bulletin. 1977a. “Vice President Mondale Visits Europe and Meets with S.A. Prime Minister Vorster.” LXXVI, 1982 (June 20): 659–66.Google Scholar
Department of State Bulletin. 1977b. “Statement by Ambassador Young.” LXVII, 1997 (October 3): 446–48.Google Scholar
Department of State Bulletin. 1977c. “Employment Practices in South Africa.” LXXII, 2003 (November 14): 685–86.Google Scholar
Department of State Bulletin. 1981. “Interview with Walter Cronkite.” 81, 2049 (April): 8–11.Google Scholar
Department of State Bulletin. 1981b. “Strengthening U.S.-American Relations.” 81, 2053 (August): 57–59.Google Scholar
Department of State Bulletin. 1982a. “U.S. Interests in Africa.” 82, 2058 (January): 23–26.Google Scholar
Department of State Bulletin. 1982b. “The African Private Sector and U.S. Foreign Policy.” 82, 2059 (February): 27–30.Google Scholar
Department of State Bulletin. 1983. “U.S. Export Policy Toward South Africa.” 83, 2074 (May): 25–29.Google Scholar
Domhoff, William G. 1979. The Powers That Be. New York: Vintage Books.Google Scholar
El-Khawas, Mohamed A. 1982. Partners in Apartheid: U.S. Business and South Africa,” pp. 509–47 in Murray, Martin J. (ed.) South African Capitalism and Black Political Opposition. Cambridge: Schenkman.Google Scholar
Foltz, William. 1978. “U.S. Policy Toward Southern Africa: Economic and Strategic Constraints,” pp. 247–73 in Lemarchand, Rene (ed.) American Policy in Southern Africa: The Stakes and the Stance. Washington: University Press of America.Google Scholar
Franklin, Raymond S. and Resnik, Solomon. 1973. The Political Economy of Racism. Hinsdale: Dryden Press.Google Scholar
Fredrickson, George M. 1981. White Supremacy. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Gavshon, Arthur. 1981. Crisis in Africa. New York: Penguin Books.Google Scholar
Gerhart, Gail M. 1978. Black Power in South Africa. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Gervasi, Sean. 1975. “The Politics of ‘Accelerated Economic Growth’,” pp. 349–68 in Thompson, Leonard and Butler, Jeffrey (ed.) Change in Contemporary South Africa. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Gramsci, Antonio. 1971. Selections from Prison Notebooks. Edited and translated by Hoare, Quintin and Smith, Geoffrey Nowell. London: Lawrence and Wishart.Google Scholar
Greenberg, Stanley B. 1980. Race and State in Capitalist Development. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Greenberg, Stanley B. 1981. “Economic Growth and Political Change: The South African Case.” The Journal of Modern African Studies, 19, 4: 667–704.Google Scholar
Hirson, Baruch. 1979. Year of Fire, Year of Ash. London: Zed Press.Google Scholar
Horowitz, David (ed.). 1969. Corporations and the Cold War. New York: Monthly Review Press.Google Scholar
Hutt, W. H. 1964. The Economics of the Colour Bar. London: Andre Deutsch.Google Scholar
Johnson, Donald Bruce. 1982. National Party Platforms. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.Google Scholar
Johnson, Richard W. 1977. How Long Will South Africa Survive? London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Kane-Berman, John. 1979. South Africa: The Method in the Madness. London: Pluto Press.Google Scholar
Kantor, B. S. and Kenny, H. F. 1976. “The Poverty of Neo-Marxism: The Case of South Africa.” Journal of Southern African Studies, 3 1: 20–40.Google Scholar
Karis, Thomas. 1975. “The Disengagement Strategy, pp. 215–47 in James, Robert Rhodes (ed.) Foreign Investment in South Africa: The Policy Debate. Uppsala: Africa Publications Trust.Google Scholar
Karis, Thomas. 1982. “United States Policy Toward South Africa,” pp. 313–63 in Carter, Gwendolen M. and O'Meara, Patrick (ed.) Southern Africa: The Continuing Crisis, 2nd edition. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Karis, Thomas, Carter, Gwendolen M., Gerhart, Gail (ed.). 1977. From Protest to Challenge, vol. III. Stanford: Stanford University.Google Scholar
Kirkpatrick, Jeane. 1979. “Dictatorships and Double Standards.” Commentary, 68, 5: 34–45.Google Scholar
Kolko, Gabriel. 1969. The Roots of American Foreign Policy. Boston: Beacon Press.Google Scholar
Kopkind, Andrew. 1983. “A Diller, A Dollar, An N.S.C. Scholar.” The Nation, 236, 25: 797–801.Google Scholar
Lake, Anthony. 1976. The “Tar Baby” Option. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Legum, Colin. 1980. “South Africa in the Contemporary World,” pp. 281–96 in Price, Robert and Rosberg, Carl G. (ed.) The Apartheid Regime. Berkeley: Institute of International Studies.Google Scholar
Lindbiom, Charles E. 1977. Politics and Markets. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Little, Arthur D. 1978. First Report on the Signatory Companies to the Sullivan Principles. Cambridge.Google Scholar
Litvak, Lawrence, DeGrasse, Robert and McTigue, Kathleen. 1978. South Africa: Foreign Investment and Apartheid. Washington: Institute for Policy Studies.Google Scholar
Los Angeles Times. March 27, 1983: vi–3.Google Scholar
Magdoff, Harry. 1969. The Age of Imperialism. New York: Monthly Review Press.Google Scholar
Mandela, Nelson. 1978. The Struggle is my Life. London: International Defence and Aid Fund for Southern Africa.Google Scholar
Marquard, Leo. 1965. Liberalism in South Africa. Johannesburg: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Miliband, Ralph. 1977. Marxism and Politics. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Murray, Martin J. (ed.) 1982. South African Capitalism and Black Political Opposition. Boston: Schenkman.Google Scholar
Myers, Desaix III. 1980. U.S. Business in South Africa. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Nagan, Winston. 1978. “The U.S. and South Africa: The Limits of ‘Peaceful Change’,” pp. 205–38 in Lemarchand, Rene (ed.) American Policy in Southern Africa: The Stakes and the Stance. Washington: University Press of America.Google Scholar
National Security Study Memorandum 39. 1976. The Kissinger Study of Southern Africa. Edited and Introduced by El-Khawas, Mohamed A. and Cohen, Barry. Westport: Lawrence Hill and Company.Google Scholar
New York Times. 1981a. May 30: 4.Google Scholar
New York Times. 1981b. August 30: 1, 19.Google Scholar
New York Times. 1981c. August 31: 9.Google Scholar
New York Times. 1982a. October 15: 1–D2.Google Scholar
ew York Times. 1982b. October 21: D1–D13.Google Scholar
New York Times. 1982c. November 4: D1–D14.Google Scholar
O'Dowd, M. C. 1977. “The Stages of Economic Growth and the Future of South Africa,” pp. 28–50 in Schlemmer, Lawrence and Webster, Eddie (ed.) Change, Reform and Economic Growth in South Africa. Johannesburg: Ravan Press.Google Scholar
Podhoretz, Norman. 1980. The Present Danger. New York: Simon and Schuster.Google Scholar
Price, Robert M. 1978. U.S. Foreign Policy in Sub-Saharan Africa: National Interest and Global Strategy. Berkeley: Institute of International Studies.Google Scholar
Price, Robert M. 1980. “Apartheid and White Supremacy: The Meaning of Government-Led Reform in the South African Context,” pp. 297–331 in Price, Robert M. and Rosberg, Carl (ed.) The Apartheid Regime. Berkeley: Institute of International Studies.Google Scholar
Price, Robert M.. 1982. “U.S. Policy toward Southern Africa,” pp. 45–88 in Carter, Gwendolen M. and O'Meara, Patrick (ed.) International Politics in Southern Africa. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Rogers, Barbara. 1976. White Wealth and Black Poverty. Westport: Greenwood Press.Google Scholar
Rotberg, Robert I. 1980. Suffer the Future. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Sachs, Albie. 1973. Justice in South Africa. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Saul, John S. and Gelb, Stephen. 1981. The Crisis in South Africa. New York: Monthly Review Press.Google Scholar
Seidman, Ann and Makgetla, Neva. 1977. South Africa and U.S. Multinational Corporations. Westport: Lawrence Hill & Co.Google Scholar
Seidman, Ann and Makgetla, Neva. 1980. Outposts of Monopoly Capitalism: Southern Africa in the Changing Global Economy. London: Zed Press.Google Scholar
Simson, Howard. 1973. “Fascism in South Africa.” The African Review, 3, 3: 423–51.Google Scholar
Study Commission on U.S. Policy Toward Southern Africa. 1981. South Africa: Time Running Out. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Taylor, Charles and Hudson, Michael C. 1972. World Handbook of Political and Social Indicators. 2nd edition. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Time. 1983. July 4: 19.Google Scholar
U.S. Congress, House of Representatives, Subcommittee on Mines and Mining of the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs. 1980. Nonfuel Minerals Policy Review, 96th Congress, 2d. session. Serial No. 96–9.Google Scholar
U.S. Congress, Senate. 1981. Nomination of Chester A. Crocker, Report Together with Additional Views, 97th Congress, Executive Report No. 97–98.Google Scholar
U.S. Congress, House of Representatives, Subcommittees on International Economic Policy and Trade and on Africa of the Committee on Foreign Affairs. 1982. Controls on Exports to South Africa, 97th Congress, 2d session.Google Scholar
Walshe, Peter. 1971. The Rise of African Nationalism in South Africa: The African National Congress, 1912–1952. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Washington Post. 1983. “Black Africans Say U.S. Props Pretoria Regime,” March 29: A9.Google Scholar
Whitaker, Jennifer S. 1983. “Pretoria's Wars,” New York Times, January 21: A27.Google Scholar
Weston, Rubin Francis. 1972. Racism in U.S. Imperialism. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press.Google Scholar
Williams, William Appleman. 1959. The Tragedy of American Diplomacy. New York: The World Publishing Company.Google Scholar
Williams, William Appleman. 1976. America Confronts a Revolutionary World, 1776–1976. New York: William Morrow and Company.Google Scholar
Wilson, Monica, and Thompson, Leonard (ed.) 1971. The Oxford History of South Africa. Vols. I & II. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Wright, Harrisson M. 1977. The Burden of the Present. London: David Philip.Google Scholar
Yudelman, David. 1975. “Industrialization, Race Relations and Change in South Africa: An Ideological and Academic Debate.” African Affairs, 74, 294: 82–96.Google Scholar