The foreign factor in South Africa's 1992 referendum

ABSTRACT

South Africa has for decades been subjected to various types of international involvement in its domestic affairs, the object being to persuade or coerce Pretoria to abandon apartheid. The recent white referendum in South Africa marks a major departure from the past pattern of international involvement directed against the South African government; on this occasion, the world community aligned itself with the Government. The changing nature of external engagement in South Africa raises important conceptual questions. Can the conventional understanding of intervention, for instance, adequately explain the South African case?