THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF SOUTH-SOUTH RELATIONS: THE CASE OF SOUTH AFRICA AND LATIN AMERICA David Fig Ph D Thesis Department of International Relations London School of Economics and Political Science 1992 UMI Number: U062749 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U062749 Published by ProQuest LLC 2014. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 p 6952. xc3/ ; ^ 6^ 7 ^ ABSTRACT Many factors have inhibited the consolidation of relations between countries of the post-colonial world, the "South". This dissertation aims to explore some of these factors through focusing on a case study of the relations between South Africa and its neighbours across the South Atlantic. Despite naval and commercial hegemony of the British Empire in the South Atlantic region during the nineteenth century, trade proved minimal and South Africa played a limited role in assisting the indictment of the transatlantic slave trade. It was only during the Boer War (1899-1902) that South Africa became the destination of Argentine exports in large measure: frozen beef to meet the needs of British troops. With the end of the war, a significant Boer migration to Patagonia was encouraged by the Argentine government. This community served to cement relations with South Africa up to and including the time of its repatriation in the late 1930s. Brazil's participation in World War Two alongside the Allies opened the way further for relations with South Africa and support for its position inside the new postwar United Nations Organisation. Growing links with the Afro-Asian world did not deter Brazil's military rulers - in power from 1964-85 - from encouraging trade and substantial South African investment. As right-wing military rule swept the Latin American region in the 1960s and 70s, South Africa, by now 2 extremely isolated diplomatically, found a number of friends. Moral and military collaboration from the regimes in the Southern Cone - especially Chile - proved very welcome in Pretoria. Its adversarial relationship with Cuba in the context of regional conflict in Southern Africa also proved important. With redemocratisation in both regions the nature of the relationship will require re-examination. However, in the context of largely dormant South-South relationships, it is unlikely to expand massively under current global conditions of debt, trade competition, and commercial and cultural barriers. Utilising methodological analysis drawn from disciplines of economic history, social history, foreign policy analysis and international political economy, this dissertation attempts to throw light on a rather neglected corner of international relations. 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT.................................................. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS.........................................4 LIST OF TABLES............................................ 7 LIST OF MAPS.............................................. 8 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS........................................... 9 CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION............................................. 15 1. The case study:some grounds for optimism?............ 16 2. Political economy and South African foreign policy.............................................. 27 3. Drawing on different disciplines.................. 31 4. Focus on the Southern Cone of Latin America......... 31 5. Documenting the relationship........................ 33 CHAPTER TWO THEORISING SOUTH-SOUTH RELATIONS...................... 34 1. Conceptualising the South........................... 35 2. South-South trade: some theories....................44 3. South-South investment flows........................ 50 4. Ideologies of closer South-South relations......... 55 5. Areas of growth in South-South relations........... 65 6. Constraints on the development of South-South relations........................................... 70 CHAPTER THREE BRITAIN, THE CAPE, AND LATIN AMERICA, 1806-1910........ 78 1. The establishment of British hegemony in the South Atlantic, 1800-1825......................... 79 2. The Cape of Good Hope and the abolition of the Brazilian slave trade, 1810-1860................. 94 3. South Africa's trade with Latin America, 1820-1910..........................................108 4. The impact of British hegemony in the South Atlantic.......................................... 119 4 CHAPTER FOUR THE MEAT OF WAR: ARGENTINA AND THE SOUTH AFRICAN CONFLICT, 1899-1907.................................... 122 1. The war in South Africa............................ 122 2. Provisioning....................................... 124 3. Renewal of the contract............................ 128 4. Argentina's role................................... 131 5. Decline of the meat trade.......................... 136 CHAPTER FIVE THE AFRIKANER MIGRATION TO PATAGONIA, 1902-6............140 1. Examining the myths................................. 140 2. Patagonia...........................................142 3. Attracting Boer settlers........................... 150 4. The first trek...................................... 153 5. The second trek..................................... 155 6. The third trek...................................... 157 7. Rejection of British rule.......................... 160 8. The north-eastern Cape and the war................. 165 9. Economic motives for migration.................... 171 10. The Boer community in Patagonia...................176 CHAPTER SIX SOUTH AFRICA'S PENETRATION OF THE BRAZILIAN ECONOMY............................................... 182 1. Overview.............................................182 2. Wartime diplomacy.................................. 186 3. Latin America, South Africa and the United Nations........................................... 188 4. South Africa's isolation: the fruit of apartheid.........................................190 5. New South African initiatives..................... 194 6. Brazil's Africa policies......... ................ 203 7. Recognition of Angola............................. 207 8. South African direct investment in Latin America........................................... 216 9. Evaluation......................................... 236 CHAPTER SEVEN CHILE'S RELATIONS WITH SOUTH AFRICA.................. 243 1. Continuity in Chile's foreign policy, 1945-73....244 2. Institutionalising the military regime........... 249 3. Economic policy.................................... 251. 4. International isolation and the conduct of foreign policy under the military...............254 5. Establishing closer links with South Africa....... 257 5 6. Military diplomacy................................ 260 7. Strategic collaboration........................... 268 8. A place of refuge................................. 273 9. States of emergency............................... 275 10. The arms trade..................................... 278 11. The fishing industry.................... 287 12. Trade, commerce and mining........................ 299 13. Challenging the relationship......................312 CHAPTER EIGHT THE FAILURE TO FORM A SOUTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANISATION.......................................... 322 1. Introduction....................................... 322 2. The idea of a South Atlantic Treaty Organisation..................................... 323 3. South Africa's maritime defence...................326 4. First naval contacts with Latin America..........331 5. Paraguay and Uruguay.............................. 335 6. Perceptions of the Soviet presence............... 341 7. Military rule in the Southern Cone....... 343 8. Brazil's negative response........................ 346 9. Latin American rivalries.......................... 349 10. Harbouring naval officers......................... 353 11. Anglo-Argentine war in the South Atlantic........358 12. Redemocratisation..................................362 13. Prospects.......................................... 366 CHAPTER NINE PLANS TO COLONISE EASTERN BOLIVIA..................... 369 1. Portuguese emigration............................. 372 2. Anglo-American proposals.......................... 373 3. German nervousness.................................374 4. Bolivian colonisation plans....................... 376 5. ICEM................................................ 378 6. Strauss formulates proposal....................... 381 7. The response....................................... 384 CHAPTER TEN CONCLUSION.................................... 390 APPENDIX 1. South African trade with the Americas........................................... 399 2. Anglo American Corporation's Brazilian investments........................................401 3. South African diplomatic representation in Latin America, 1975............................403 MAPS.....................................................404 REFERENCES.............................................. 410 6 LIST OF TABLES 2.1 Directions of trade, 1955-85.....................45 2.2 Exports of ASEAN countries, 1970-84............. 73 2.3 Imports of ASEAN countries,