Economic Sanctions against the Union of South Africa: Policy Options

Abstract

In this paper the authors examine and assess the likely impact of the various types of economic sanctions against South Africa, and go on to identify the actors who can most effectively apply them. From an examination of statistics relating to general and specific trade, investment, they find that South Africa is trade and credit dependent and is thus vulnerable to selective sanctions which can disrupt the most dynamic and advanced sectors of the economy. They propose concrete steps to be taken by private sector interests such as IBM, Control Data, and Chase Manhattan Bank. They emphasize that foreign policy can be made from the bottom up by various trade unions, churches and action groups through their pressure on nongovernmental actors as well as on governments. They emphasize that sanctions be applied in such a way as to impact the White elite at the top but not the Black majority at the bottom. The use of a measured carrot-and-stick approach is likely to produce peaceful change and accommodation and prevent a relentless drift toward civil war.