The Carter Administration's policy toward Namibia

Abstract

Abstract taken from Dissertation Abstracts International, vol 47, no 01, July 1986, p. 304-A:

Regarding the national level, however, several obstacles were found. Ineffective diplomacy with insensitive, public rhetoric by the Carter Administration policymakers resulted in Pretoria's lack of trust in the U. S. as a responsible negotiator. This resulted in less co-operation from S. A. regarding the proposed election plans. In addition, counter-productive action resulted from the Carter Administration's public threats to apply greater pressures if South Africa did not co-operate. In essence, the Carter Administration's ineffective diplomacy served to excuse South African non-co-operalion on election plans for Namibia

Finally, at the level of the international system, the most serious and intractable obstacles were found. SWAPO's communist affiliations, the major obstacle, accounted for an entire range of South African resistance measures. Policy was obstructed because two factors coincided: SWAPO's communist affiliations and South African perceptions of being threatened by communism. Unlike other factors which were incidental and negotiable, these were intrinsic to the situation. Since they could not be explained away, their confluence was the primary reason policy was not implemented