Diplomacy, Codes and Sanctions: 1977–1989

Abstract

In the 1970s the EC was faced with the challenging and perhaps perplexing task of designing the scope and content of its foreign policy. Confronted with a tabula rasa, understandably, this process was initially reactive: where possible, political cooperation provided a collective response to international events as each situation demanded. This intrinsically ad hoc procedure was admittedly unsatisfactory, but it reflected the insecure nature of EPC in its formative days. Consequently, the EC did not approach the question of South or southern Africa with a clearly delineated set of policy objectives. No such policy existed in practice or in abeyance awaiting implementation. Rather, the policy was reactive in origin and borne out of an international incident, the Soweto uprisings of 1976 and the repressive South African Government response. In this sense, policy in southern Africa has followed the traditional path of incrementalism typical of the majority of early Community foreign policy actions.