Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 March 2024
Chapter 5 engages with the brief period of decision-making in which the nuclear rollback decision was initiated by newly elected President F. W. de Klerk. Set against the winding down of the Cold War in the region and the final stages of the Border War in Angola, I discuss the end of the nuclear weapons programme, showing how the South African strategy on NPT accession changed to incorporate the region in an attempt to ultimately broker a NWFZ in southern Africa. I detail how the apartheid regime, and in particular the DFA officials, revised their strategy to enable de Klerk and his advisors to be able to present signature to the Treaty to domestic opponents as a step worthy of pursuance. I also highlight how President F. W. de Klerk’s newly elected government had to consider and balance international opinion and pressure in the form of sanctions and embargoes. Moreover, I illuminate the need for the government to come to terms with a domestic situation of rising unrest and increased right-wing pressure threatening the reforms initiated by the NP, and how Pretoria finally acceded to the NPT.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.