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The Carter Administration and South African Apartheid Between Morality and Power The Carter Administration and South African Apartheid Noor ter Meer – 2388073 [email protected] Master thesis MA North American Studies Universiteit Leiden 21-10-2020 Supervisor: Dr. W.M. Schmidli Second reader: Dr. D. Fazzi Word count (excluding footnotes): 19.774 Declaration of originality By submitting this test, I certify that: ✓ this work has been drafted by me without any assistance from others (not applicable to group work); ✓ I have not discussed, shared, or copied submitted work from/with other students ✓ I have not used sources that are not explicitly allowed by the course instructors and I have clearly referenced all sources (either from a printed source, internet or any other source) used in the work in accordance with the course requirements and the indications of the course instructors; ✓ this work has not been previously used for other courses in the programme or for course of another programme or university unless explicitly allowed by the course instructors. I understand that any false claim in respect to this work will result in disciplinary action in accordance with university regulations and the programme regulations, and that any false claim will be reported to the Board of Examiners. Disciplinary measures can result in exclusion from the course and/or the programme. I understand that my work may be checked for plagiarism, by the use of plagiarism detection software as well as through other measures taken by the university to prevent and check on fraud and plagiarism. I understand and endorse the significance of the prevention of fraud and I acknowledge that in case of (gross) fraud the Board of Examiners could declare the examination invalid, which may have consequences for all students. 20 October 2020 1 Abstract When Jimmy Carter was inaugurated in 1977, he promised to make his commitment to human rights absolute. The deeply torn and racially divided region of Southern Africa would become his administration’s stage to illustrate their moralistic foreign policy which was based on the promotion of human rights. Whereas Carter’s commitment to human rights was motivated by his personal experiences during the Civil Rights Movement in the United States, his National Security Advisor, Zbigniew Brzezinski, was led by strategic considerations which could advance the American position in the Cold War. These conflicting approaches to a human rights policy resulted in a vague, often hypocritical, and quickly shifting policy, which started with a strong moral undertone and focus on human rights, yet ended with economic and strategic considerations as the top priorities of the administration. Through its in-depth analysis of primary sources, this study has sought to research the change in the Carter administration’s human rights policy towards South Africa, thereby also discussing the general changes within the foundations of the administration’s foreign policy. 2 Table of contents Introduction 4 1 Carter, Brzezinski and human rights in South Africa 11 2 1977: The year of hope and morality 28 3 1978-1980: The years of failed attempts and hypocrisy 46 Conclusion 62 Bibliography 67 3 Introduction On January 20, 1977, Jimmy Carter was inaugurated as the 39th president of the United States. As Carter set out the plans for the foreign policy of his administration, it became clear that human rights would be the underlying theme.1 When he inherited the global issues faced by his predecessor, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter had probably not foreseen the challenges he would face during his presidency in southern Africa. The issues in the deeply torn and racially divided region would present president Carter with difficult dilemmas, which had, in the light of the administration’s human rights policy, the potential to be of major influence on the administration’s credibility and success. Since the victory of the Nasionale Party van Suid-Afrika (National Party of South Africa) in 1948, apartheid was deeply embedded in South African politics. South Africa, however, had been racially divided for a long time before the apartheid laws. Having been dominated under white, foreign rule since the seventeenth century, alternately by British and Dutch colonizers, South African blacks had been subject to discriminatory systems of control for a long time.2 The National Party ruled over South Africa with a system and laws based on the ideology of apartheid, which was a “microcosm of human degradation.”3 Deprived of basic political, civil and socio-economic rights, black South Africans were severely repressed by the political regime. As South Africa was one of Carter’s prioritized countries in his human rights policy, South Africa will serve as the case study in this thesis. Through a detailed analysis of the change within the administration’s policy towards South Africa, this thesis will illustrate the general shift of the administration’s human rights policy. 1 Gaddis Smith, Morality, Reason and Power: American Diplomacy in the Carter Years (New York: Hill and Wang, 1986), 6. 2 Edward Kamara, “Continuity or change: American foreign policy of human rights under the Carter and the Reagan administration with particular emphasis on Southern Africa 1977-1984,” PhD dissertation, Wayne State University, thesis (2005): 12. 3 Kamara, “Continuity or change,” 111. 4 Jimmy Carter was President of the United States from 1977 until 1980. Carter was raised in a religious family in the Old South and had personally experienced the African- American struggle for civil rights. Because of his faith and his experience with the civil rights movement, Carter was deeply committed to racial equality and a moral foreign policy. The scholarly assessment of Carter as the president has changed notably over time. Scholars who have researched Carter in the late nineties and early 2000’s emphasize the moral underpinnings of Carter’s foreign policy and human rights policy, and argue that the administration remained true to its moral beliefs and its dedication to human rights until the end of its term. Scholars who researched Carter in the past decade, however, argue that Carter did not live up to his initial foreign policy plans, and contend that the administration traded its moral beliefs for power and Soviet containment. Another important policymaker in the Carter administration, was Zbigniew Brzezinski, Carter’s National Security Advisor (NSA). Zbigniew Brzezinski, born in Poland in 1928, fled to Canada with his family in 1938. He studied at Harvard – notably, at the same time as Henry Kissinger – and became a well known international relations scholar during the Cold War.4 In 1972, Brzezinski founded the Trilateral Commission, which was aimed at improving the trilateral economic and political relations between Japan, Europe and the US.5 After Carter was introduced to the Commission in 1973, Brzezinski and Carter quickly became close. Having worked together for three years, Brzezinski was eager to support Carter’s candidacy in 1976.6 His early support and his incredibly wide range of knowledge ultimately resulted in Carter’s decision to appoint him to the position of National Security Advisor.7 Being a Polish immigrant, Brzezinski’s particular focus had always been on the 4 Kamara, “Continuity or change,” 111. 5 Ibid., 37-38. 6 Ibid., 38. 7 Ibid. 5 Soviet Union.8 He viewed the Soviet Union as one of the primary obstacles to a stable world order, and, therefore, tended to have a power-ridden and strategic view of the world.9 Even though Carter was aware of the influence that Brzezinski’s personal and academic background might have on their policy, he was very thankful for the enormous amount of information and experience that Brzezinski brought to his administration, since Carter himself lacked any real experience in foreign affairs.10 The academic debate on Brzezinski has also changed over time. Scholars who researched Brzezinski in the nineties and early 2000’s are fairly critical about him. They generally contend that Brzezinski’s background as a Polish immigrant heavily influenced his beliefs, and argue that Brzezinski’s hawkish approach to the Cold War had a negative influence on the administration’s human rights policy. More recent academic literature, however, emphasizes the positive influence that the NSA had on the Carter administration, and argues that he was in favour of an active promotion of human rights. As seen in the political history of the United States, the combination of morality and national interest is essential to the character of United States foreign policy. As described by legal scholars Peter Baehr and Monique Castermans-Holleman, “American foreign policy has always been a mixture of idealism and realism. It gives evidence of a certain measure of moralism, of ethical principles, based on the idea that the United States will bring good to the world. At the same time, a careful eye is kept on preserving its own national interests.”11 The combination of idealism and realism, of morality and national interest, has thus been characteristic for US foreign policy and can also clearly be recognized in the Carter administration. 8 Smith, Morality, Reason and Power, 36. 9 Ibid., 135. 10 Ibid., 27; 38. 11 Peter R. Baehr and Monique Castermans-Holleman, The Role of Human Rights in Foreign Policy (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004), 91. 6 Carter began his term as an idealistic and moralistic president, when he promised to make his commitment to human rights absolute. Carter saw human rights through the lens of civil rights because of his personal experiences with the civil rights movement, and was therefore deeply committed to battling apartheid in South Africa. Even though Brzezinski was also committed to human rights, it was through a Cold War perspective. By advancing human rights in southern Africa and showing the moral character of the US, Brzezinski wanted to prevent more Soviet influence on the continent.
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