Swiss foreign policy toward South Africa under apartheid: a longitudinal analysis

Abstract

Mainly as a follow-up to public debate about Switzerland’s role in World War II, interest in Swiss relations with South Africa’s apartheid regime (1948–1994) was revived during the late 1990s. In response to this public attention, in May 2000 the Federal Council commissioned the Swiss National Science Foundation to carry out a National Research Program (NRP 42+) on Swiss-South African relations during the apartheid era. Arecently concluded research project at the CIS was part of the NRP 42+ and investigated the Swiss Government’s foreign policy toward apartheid South Africa in a longitudinal analysis. The study showed that the steadfastness of this policy can mainly be explained by the fact that various bureaucratic, political, economic, and social circles exhibited high convergence in their opposition to economic sanctions against the apartheid regime – albeit for different reasons.