Financing rebellion: the Rhodesian state, financial policy and exchange control, 1962-1979
| dc.contributor.advisor | Phimister, I. R. | |
| dc.contributor.advisor | Cohen, A. P. | |
| dc.contributor.author | Nyamunda, Tinashe | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2016-11-24T07:57:23Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2016-11-24T07:57:23Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2015-11 | |
| dc.description.abstract | English: This thesis examines the history of finance and exchange control under the Rhodesian Front (RF) government between 1962 and 1979. Outlining the background to Southern Rhodesia’s incorporation within Britain’s imperial network from 1890 to 1962, the study’s primary focus is on how the Colony emerged from the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland in 1963 to reconstitute a financial system capable of operating independently from Britain. The Rhodesian case study illustrates the antagonism between British financial interests and colonial financial policies. The political impasse over the Rhodesian question centered on finance as a tool of coercion by London, and conversely, as a rebel bulwark against the metropole. Following UDI in 1965, financial and economic sanctions were imposed by Britain and subsequently the United Nations (UN). The various settlement negotiations that ensued were unsuccessful in stopping the rebellion until the Lancaster House Conference in 1979. The process whereby Rhodesia survived sanctions by the use of financial measures supported by strategic political alliances and trade arrangements with South Africa and Portugal is clearly examined. It was not until the escalation of the guerrilla struggle in the 1970s that the rebel monetary system began to buckle. The study traces the measures taken by Britain and the UN to end the Rhodesian rebellion, including the effects this had on London as well as the geopolitical implications for Southern Africa, notably South Africa and Zambia. It utilizes primary material from Zimbabwean, South African and British archives to determine the different strategies involved and their effects on Britain and Rhodesia. The thesis also discusses the extent to which broader international events influenced developments in Rhodesia, for example, the collapse of the Bretton Woods financial system in 1971, the oil shock in 1973 and the global economic recessions which they triggered and their effects on the Colony. Central to this analysis is how Salisbury’s financial administration was coordinated by a Ministerial Economic Coordination Committee to sustain the different elements of the Rhodesian rebellion at different stages until a point was reached when the only option was compromise at Lancaster. Not limited to an examination of the effects of sanctions, the thesis is a study of a neglected area of Zimbabwean and general economic history: colonial financial systems in their transition to a postcolonial state. | en_ZA |
| dc.description.abstract | Afrikaans: In hierdie verhandeling word die geskiedenis van finansiewese en valutabeheer gedurende die bewind van die Rhodesiese Front (RF) tussen 1962 en 1979 ondersoek. Die verhandeling skets eers die agtergrond tot Suid-Rhodesië se inlywing in die Britse imperiale netwerk tussen 1890 en 1962. Daarna val die hoofondersoekfokus op die proses waardeur die Kolonie vanuit die Federasie van Rhodesië en Nyasaland in 1963 na vore kon tree om opnuut ‘n finansiële stelsel, wat die moederland die hoof kon bied, daar te stel. Die Rhodesiese gevallestudie belig die antagonisme tussen metropolitaanse finansiële belange en koloniale finansiële beleid. Die politieke dooiepunt oor die Rhodesiese vraagstuk het daarom gewentel dat die finansiewese terselfdertyd deur London as ‘n dwangmiddel en deur die rebelle as ‘n skans teen die moederland ingespan is. Na afloop van die eensydige onafhanklikheidsverklaring (Unilateral Declaration of Independence – UDI) in 1965 het Brittanje en die Verendigde Nasies (VN) finansiële en ekonomiese sanksies teen Suid- Rhodesië ingestel. Verskeie skikkingsonderhandelinge het hierop gevolg, maar kon nie daarin slaag om die rebellie tot ‘n einde te bring nie – dit is eers met die Lancaster House konferensie in 1979 bereik. Rhodesië het die sanksies oorleef deur gebruik te maak van finansiële maatreëls, wat deur strategiese politieke bondgenootskappe en handelsooreenkomste met Suid-Afrika en Portugal gerigsnoer is. Hierdie proses word sorgvuldig ondersoek. Eers toe die guerrilla-stryd in die 1970s begin intensifiseer, het die rebelle se montêre stelsel begin wankel. Hierdie navorsing spoor die maatreëls wat Brittanje en die VN geneem het ten einde die Rhodesiese rebellie te beëindig, asook die gevolge hiervan op London en die geopolitiese implikasies vir Suider-Afrika, in besonder Suid-Afrika en Zambië, na. Daar word van primêre navorsingsmateriaal uit Zimbabwiese, Suid- Afrikaanse en Britse argiewe gebruik gemaak om die verskillende strategieë en hul gevolge vir Brittanje en Rhodesië te bepaal. Die proefskrif bespreek ook tot watter mate breër internasionale gebeure – byvoorbeeld die ineenstorting van die Bretton Woods finansiële stelsel (1971), die oliekrisis (1973), en die globale ekonomiese resessies wat hierdeur veroorsaak is – gebeure in Rhodesië beïvloed het. Sentraal tot hierdie ontleding staan die ondersoek na hoe ‘n Ministeriële Ekonomiese Koördineringskomitee Salisbury se finansiële administrasie só bestuur het dat verskillende elemente van die Rhodesiese rebellie op verskillende tydspunkte onderhou is, totdat daar ‘n punt bereik is waar ‘n skikking by Lancaster as enigste opsie oorgebly het. Hierdie proefskrif is dus nie slegs ‘n ondersoek na die gevolge van sanksies nie – dit is ook ‘n studie van ‘n verwaarlooste aspek van Zimbabwiese en meer algemene ekonomiese geskiedenis, naamlik koloniale finansiële stelsels in oorgang na die post-koloniale staat. | af |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/11660/4791 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | en_ZA |
| dc.publisher | University of the Free State | en_ZA |
| dc.rights.holder | University of the Free State | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Finance | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Exchange control | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Sterling area | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Currency | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | British pound | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Rhodesian pound | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Rhodesian dollar | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Thesis (Ph.D. (Centre for Africa Studies))--University of the Free State, 2015 | en_ZA |
| dc.title | Financing rebellion: the Rhodesian state, financial policy and exchange control, 1962-1979 | en_ZA |
| dc.type | Thesis | en_ZA |