The Commonwealth and Southern African Decolonization 1949–1994

Abstract

This article addresses the role of the Commonwealth, a unique post-colonial association, in the protracted process of decolonisation in sub-Saharan Africa. It examines the ways in which Commonwealth leaders sought to use the association to enhance their national diplomacy and policy stance on African self-determination: to pressure the British government to adopt more robust policies such as economic sanctions, and to use Common-wealth meetings as a diplomatic forum to coordinate and publicise their stance on decolonisation to their home constituencies, enhancing their domestic legitimacy. The article also addresses the ways in which the Commonwealth evolved in the process of British disengagement from empire, developing a separate identity, political leadership and an international secretariat; and its place in the global struggle against white minority regimes in Southern Rhodesia, Namibia/South West Africa and South Africa.