Balancing interests beyond the water's edge: Identifying the key interests that determined US foreign policy towards apartheid South Africa

Abstract

The United States, in formulating a foreign policy towards apartheid South Africa, attempted to balance a number of conflicting interests. These interests are divided into three categories (strategic, economic and human rights interests), and examined in turn. Initially, strategic considerations were to the fore. South Africa was judged by Washington DC to be a reliable ally on the tip of a continent vulnerable to Communist expansion. Strategic minerals and this country's location at a ‘choke point’ on the Cape sea route were arguments often aired. The Union, and then the Republic, of South Africa was also a profitable market for US commercial interests. No US foreign policy addressing apartheid could ignore this economic relationship. There remained, however, the question of apartheid. No simple relationship of friendship, based on shared interests, could exist between these governments as long as this programme of social engineering endured. Eventually, in the mid-1980s, the US would impose punitive sanctions against the Republic, with human rights interests finally superseding strategic and economic concerns.

Notes

1. See the United States Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis, Survey of Current Business, 36(8), pp. 19, 23 (1956); 41(8), pp. 22–23 (1961); 46(9), pp. 34–35 (1966); 52(11), p. 30 (1972); 57(8), p. 44, p. 50 (1977); 64 (11), pp. 24–25 (1984); 66(8), p. 70 (1986); 68(8), p. 65 (1988); and 71(8), p. 104 (1991). See also Seidman and Seidman (1978, p. 81). Returns on investment are calculated by investment income as a percentage of the total direct investment.

2. See the United States Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis, Survey of Current Business, 36(8), pp. 19, 23 (1956); 41(8), pp. 22–23 (1961); 46(9), pp. 34–35 (1966); 52(11), p. 30 (1972); 57(8), p. 44, p. 50 (1977); 64 (11), pp. 24–25 (1984); 66(8), p. 70 (1986); 68(8), p. 65 (1988); and 71(8), p. 104 (1991). See also Seidman and Seidman (1978, p. 81). Returns on investment are calculated by investment income as a percentage of the total direct investment.

3. See the United States Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis, Survey of Current Business, 36(8), pp. 19, 23 (1956); 41(8), pp. 22–23 (1961); 46(9), pp. 34–35 (1966); 52(11), p. 30 (1972); 57(8), p. 44, p. 50 (1977); 64 (11), pp. 24–25 (1984); 66(8), p. 70 (1986); 68(8), p. 65 (1988); and 71(8), p. 104 (1991). See also Seidman and Seidman (1978, p. 81). Returns on investment are calculated by investment income as a percentage of the total direct investment.

4. The Fortune 500 industrial corporations (see Worthy, 1981, pp. 322–49) have been compared against the IRRC Directory of US Corporations in South Africa (Goldberg 1982). The IRRC list covers American firms operating in South Africa during 1980 and 1981.

5. Even Hans Morgenthau points out that morality must play a part in a state's foreign policy (1973, pp. 224–56).