Related Papers
British government policy and diplomacy in Southern Rhodesia, 1979-1980
2016 •
jack Brailsford
This thesis focuses on the use of policy and diplomacy by the British government in Southern Rhodesia during 1979-1980. In particular, the necessity of combining short-term flexibility and contingency alongside long-term policy planning during this period will be explored. In order to do so, this thesis uses documents from the British National Archives, in particular files from the Prime Minister's Office (PREM) and the Cabinet Office (CAB). These documents, released in 2011, allow for a close examination of the issues faced by the British government in achieving long term goals whilst circumventing short term crises. This is due to their thorough documentation of high-level political decisions within the British government and their chronological approach, which offers an insight into the ways in which priorities and alliances shifted over time. This work will contribute to the existing material and knowledge on the subject due to its ability to use these recently released docu...
Uncle Sam in Africa: U.S. Foreign Policy on Rhodesia during the UDI era. “UDI: 50 Years On”, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK, November, 2015
Eddie Michel
My paper, “Uncle Sam in Africa”, will offer a broad examination of U.S. policy towards Rhodesia as viewed through the lens of the respective Presidential administrations. The aim of my research is to demonstrate the changing American perspective on the Rhodesian question and how this directly affected the ultimate emergence of an independent Zimbabwe. In my paper, I will discuss the transformation in U.S. policy from the somewhat ambiguous approach of the Johnson White House, the shift towards ‘white Africa’ during the Nixon years as anti-communism and economic interests took centre stage and the subsequent attempt of the Ford Administration to achieve a peace settlement in order to prevent further communist expansion into southern Africa. Finally, I will analyse the critical role played by President Carter in bringing an end to UDI through increased diplomatic pressure and non-recognition of the Muzorewa government. I will also examine the motivations behind Carter’s vociferous opposition to a white controlled Rhodesia including his commitment to human rights but also the strategic Cold War considerations. When evaluating U.S. policy towards Rhodesia I aim to highlight the diverse factors which drove presidential decision making during the 1960s and 1970s. Anti-communism, trade, the need for strategic natural resources, the increasing interdependence of the global system, a moral belief in decolonization, the growth of human rights movement, domestic race relations and the increasing importance of the African-American vote all significantly impacted White House actions towards Salisbury. On a broader level, I will demonstrate how American-Rhodesian bilateral relations offer a useful interpretative prism to reveal the evolution of U.S. foreign relations with the emerging nations of Africa and the wider Third World during the Sixties and Seventies.
‘“The only way to break the logjam”: Britain, Rhodesia and the Kissinger Initiative of 1976’
Todd Carter
The Rhodesian crisis in British and international politics
2006 •
Carl P Watts
This thesis uses evidence from British and international archives to examine the events leading up to Rhodesia’s Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) on 11 November 1965 from the perspectives of Britain, the Old Commonwealth (Canada, Australia, and New Zealand), and the United States. Two underlying themes run throughout the thesis. First, it argues that although the problem of Rhodesian independence was highly complex, a UDI was by no means inevitable. There were courses of action that were dismissed or remained under explored (especially in Britain, but also in the Old Commonwealth, and the United States), which could have been pursued further and may have prevented a UDI. Second, the thesis argues there were structural weaknesses in the machinery of government of each of the major actors, but particularly in Britain. This made the management of the Rhodesian Crisis more difficult, contributed to the likelihood of a UDI, and exacerbated tension in relations between Britain and its international partners. In stressing these themes the thesis builds upon some of the earlier literature that was critical of the Labour Government’s foreign and Commonwealth policies. Although this thesis is primarily an international history, it also makes use of theories from political science and international relations to frame certain aspects of the empirical research.
“This outcome gives me no pleasure. It is extremely painful for me to be the instrument of their fate”: The United States and Rhodesia during the 1970s. Seminar Series, Department of History, University of South Africa (UNISA), Pretoria, South Africa, March 2018
Eddie Michel
My paper explores the competing ideological and pragmatic determinants that shaped White House policy towards white minority ruled Rhodesia during the 1970s.
Prelude to the 1979 Lancaster House Constitutional Conference on Rhodesia:The Role of International Economic Sanctions Reconsidered
Alois S Mlambo
The paper re-examines the role of international sanctions in contributing to the conditions that made the Lancaster House Constitutional Conference possible. It argues that, while sanctions were by no means the only or even the most important factor in promoting dialogue between the Rhodesian authorities and the leaders of the liberation movements, they were, nevertheless, a significant factor and part of a combination of forces, which also included the effects of intensified guerrilla insurgency and mounting international pressure, all of which brought about political change in Rhodesia in 1979.
Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence: An International History
Carl P Watts
"On November 11, 1965 the colony of Southern Rhodesia unilaterally and illegally declared itself independent from Britain, the first and only time that this had happened since the American Declaration of Independence in 1776. After fifteen years of international ostracism, economic sanctions, and civil war Rhodesia finally walked the path to legal independence as the state of Zimbabwe in 1980. Interdisciplinary in its scope and international in its coverage, this book analyzes the weaknesses in Britain's Rhodesian policy in the 1960s and the strains that Rhodesia's UDI imposed on Britain's relations with the Commonwealth, the United States and the United Nations. Advance praise for Rhodesia’s Unilateral Declaration of Independence: An International History “Carl Peter Watts has written a comprehensive and definitive history of Rhodesia’s path of rebellion. His use of material from several archives has resulted in new knowledge and new nuances of understanding that transform our views of what happened in the last white colony of Africa.”—Stephen Chan, Professor of International Relations, School of Oriental and African Studies “Carl Peter Watts has written a remarkably wide-ranging and lively analysis of the international repercussions of Rhodesia’s unilateral declaration of independence in the mid-1960s. Drawing on archives from a number of countries and applying international relations theories as well as a sound historical grasp, he questions a number of assumptions about the crisis, arguing that UDI could have been avoided and that, once it took place, the British government could have ended it by using military force.”—John Young, Professor of International History, University of Nottingham “By placing the Rhodesian crisis in a genuinely international perspective, Carl Peter Watts offers important new insights into one of the most intractable problems thrown up by the process of decolonization. This rigorously researched and thought-provoking study should be essential reading for anyone seeking to understand why the issue proved so difficult to resolve.”—Philip Murphy, Professor and Director of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London"
The White House and White Africa: Presidential Policy Toward Rhodesia During the UDI Era, 1965-1979
2018 •
Eddie Michel
South African Historical Journal
‘This outcome gives me no pleasure. It is extremely painful for me to be the instrument of their fate’: White House Policy on Rhodesia during the UDI Era (1965–1979)
2018 •
Eddie Michel
This article offers an insightful analysis of presidential policy towards Rhodesia during the UDI era of 1965 to 1979. I provide an informative account of the stance adopted by the differing presidential administrations towards Salisbury and highlight the shifting alignment of the global and domestic dynamics that shaped decision-making. I also explore the complex relationship between pragmatism and morality in formulating policy and consider intriguing questions over the competing visions within Washington of what constituted pragmatism or morality during the era of decolonisation.
'This outcome gives me no pleasure. It is extremely painful for me to be the instrument of their fate’: White House policy towards Rhodesia during the UDI era. Rhodesia to Zimbabwe: The Diplomacy of Isolation and Liberation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa, June, 2018
Eddie Michel
In this work I have sought to provide a critical study of the competing ideological and pragmatic viewpoints which sought to shape policy towards Salisbury. An exploration of presidential actions during the UDI era exposes the inherent tension between these underlying forces but also reveals that the relationship between the differing approaches was fluid and varied according to the respective occupants of the Oval Office as well as the changing international and domestic background which confronted them. Moreover, an analysis of American actions towards Rhodesia reveals the broader struggle between pragmatism and morality in U.S. foreign relations as well as the differing interpretations of what constituted a pragmatic or moral approach.
