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Apartheid and International Monetary Reform

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2009

Rodney J. Morrison
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Extract

Apartheid and international monetary reform have received much attention in recent years yet littleof the discussion of these issues has linked them in any meaningful way. The call for changes in the international monetary system has been based upon an alleged insufficiency in international liquidity anda need for an adjustment mechanism for secular balance of payments disequilibria. Opposition to apartheid, South Africa's segregationist racial policy, has been based upon humanitarian concern for the condition of black Africans in that country.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Review of Politics , Volume 32 , Issue 3 , July 1970 , pp. 338 - 346
Copyright
Copyright © University of Notre Dame 1970

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References

1 For a discussion of these matters, see Bator, F. M., “The Political Economics of International Money,” Foreign Affairs, XLVII, No. 1 (09 1968)Google Scholar; and Triffin, R., “The Thrust of History in International Reform,” Foreign Affairs, XLVII, No. 3 (04, 1969)Google Scholar.

2 The New York Times January 18, and March 2, 1965.

3 Ibid., May 28, 1965.

4 Kenya, for example, found that as a result of its boycott of South Africa its exports of soda ash fell by 40%. The New York Times, March 2, 1965.

5 It is this investment which has been the source of a good deal of student disquiet in the United States.

6 The New York Times, May 19, 1965, and January 18, 1967. For a comprehensive treatment of this subject, seeThomas, R., United States Economic Involvement in South Africa(American Committee on Africa, New York)Google Scholar.

7 Tempo (Bulletin of the Economic Intelligence Unit of the South Africa Foundation), November, 1966.

8 For an analysis of some of the political, economic, and military implications ofsuch a policy, see Leiss, A. C. et al. Apartheid and United Nations Collective Measures: An Analysis (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, New York, 1965)Google Scholar.

9 This activity has gone far beyond the normal pattern of import substitution that one finds in most developing nations. See Tempo, March and February, 1967; November, 1968; and February, 1969.

10 “The Pedigreed Gold System: A Good System — Why Spoil It?” Report of the Subcommittee on International Exchange and Payments (Washington, D.C.: Joint Economic Committee, 1969), pp. 4–5Google Scholar; DrJongh, T. W. de, “Review of the Financial and Economic Situation in South Africa,” South African Journal of Economics, XXXVII (09, 1969), 187–188CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

11 DrRissik, Gerard, “Review of the Financial and Economic Situation in South Africa,” South African Journal of Economics, XXXI (09, 1966), 194Google Scholar; de Jongh, T. W., op. cit., p. 191Google Scholar.

12 SeeMunger, E. S., “South Africa: Are There Silver Linings?” Foreign Affairs, XLVII, No. 2 (01, 1969)Google Scholar.

13 Drde Jongh, T. W., “Review of the Financial and Economic Situation in South Africa,” South African Journal of Economics, XXXVI, No. 3 (09, 1968) and XXXVII, No. 3 (September, 1969)Google Scholar.

14 See Leiss, A., op. cit., pp. 155–157, 163–164Google Scholar.

15 It should be pointed out that, even if such a policy were completely successfuland flexible exchange rates were adopted, in isolation this would not be enough to force South Africa to alter its domestic racial policy.

16 The claim is made that devaluation is only “just” in view of the fact that South Africa provides a valuable service to the rest of the world. This is based on the contention that South African mines have encountered diminishing returns and the government has subsidized marginal mines in order that the world's gold supply increase (this could also be viewed as simply a waste of South African resources). A second service which South Africa provides the West, at least, is that it is a bastion again Communism. According to a former South African finance minister, it is entirely possible that Russia, “where economic considerations need not be the deciding factor,” could become the world's largest gold producer in a few years. DrDonges, T. E., “Gold and Liquidity,” South African Journal of Economics, XXXIII (09, 1965), 212Google Scholar. See, also, Tempo, October and November, 1969.

17 Joint Economic Committee, “The Pedigreed Gold System,” pp. 5–6Google Scholar.