| Publication |
2010.
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| Summary/Abstract |
This article seeks to explain the diplomatic impasse that developed between the United States and South Africa during later 1970s. Although the Carter Administration's foreign policy towards Pretoria was more confrontational than its predecessors, it failed to bring South Africa to account over apartheid. The critical rhetoric and diplomatic symbolism used against the Republic was intensified, yet Carter continued to reject the use of punitive economic sanctions. Instead, the United States supported the notion of an international corporate presence in the Republic, regarding such business contacts as a force for change. It is argued that this dichotomy between a short-term strategy of confrontation and a longer-term strategy of continued economic engagement ultimately undermined Carter's South Africa policy. Exploiting the contradictory and confused signals emanating from Washington DC, the Republic's government chose to simply weather Carter's political storm, and a diplomatic stalemate ensued.
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