When Sanctions Worked: The Case of Rhodesia Reexamined

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Periodical article

Title:	When Sanctions Worked: The Case of Rhodesia Reexamined
Authors:	Minter, William Schmidt, Elizabeth
Year:	1988
Periodical:	African Affairs: The Journal of the Royal African Society
Volume:	87
Issue:	347
Period:	April
Pages:	207-237
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Zimbabwe
Subjects:	sanctions international relations Economics and Trade Politics and Government
External link:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/722401
Abstract:	In the light of the current prominence of the South African sanctions debate, a reassessment of the Rhodesian case is needed. The differences between the two cases are substantial, but there are also significant parallels in the arguments and in the methodology for evaluating success. A careful look at Rhodesia can provide a guide to potential pitfalls in the South African debate, as well as challenging the premature scholarly consensus of 'failure' in Rhodesia. This paper argues that the guerrilla war was an essential factor in the downfall of white minority rule in Rhodesia, but that sanctions, despite the inconsistency in enforcement and vagaries of political will of the major powers, also made a substantial contribution to that result. If comprehensive mandatory sanctions should be adopted against South Africa, they are likely to be at least as effective as in Rhodesia. Notes, ref.