Economic Nationalism During UDI, 1965–79

Abstract

In the late 1950s, decolonisation reached Southern Rhodesia. African demands for a share of power encountered stiff resistance from Europeans. Unwilling to grant the majority any real political influence, the European electorate rallied behind a new party, the Rhodesian Front (RF). The break-up of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland in 1963 led to stronger pressures from Southern Rhodesian manufacturers for policies of economic nationalism. However, it was the decision of the RF government to defy Great Britain over the issue of political incorporation of the majority that turned the perceived self-interest of manufacturers into a necessity for ‘national’ (settler community) survival. The Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) of 1965 provoked international sanctions and import-substituting industrialisation (ISI) became the policy of the RF government virtually by default.

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