Conference to explore whether sanctions worked in South Africa

A two-day conference, April 13-14 at the Watson Institute for International Studies, will examine the theoretical and policy aspects of the international economic sanctions applied to South Africa before the end of apartheid.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The Thomas J. Watson Jr. Institute for International Studies at Brown University will present a two-day conference April 13-14 on "How Sanctions Work: South Africa." The sessions are open to the public without charge at the Watson Institute, 2 Stimson Ave. in Providence.

The international sanctions applied to South Africa produced one of the longest-running and most turbulent debates of the 20th century between academics and policy makers. Conventional academic wisdom has held that sanctions do not work, while conventional policy wisdom has varied with the perceived success or failure of sanctions. According to conference organizers, the debate about the efficacy of sanctions continues even after the social and political changes that have taken place in South Africa.

Neta Crawford, a post-doctoral fellow at the Watson Institute, currently on leave from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, writes: "This conference is part of the larger policy and scholarly debate over the utility and impact of international sanctions as a tool of foreign policy at the same time that sanctions are more frequently used by the international community." She points out that the debate has flared up recently in the cases of Iraq, Yugoslavia, and Haiti.

Conference participants will include South African and North American scholars who will examine financial, diplomatic, arms, oil, sport and cultural sanctions as well as the impact of sanctions on populations in neighboring states and in South Africa. The papers presented at the conference will be published in an edited volume titled How Sanctions Work: South Africa. An annotated conference schedule follows:

Saturday, April 13

10:30 a.m. - Noon
Welcome, introductions, discussion of theories of sanctions

12:15 - 2:00 p.m.
Papers by Nomazengele (Zengie) Mangaliso on culture boycotts and by David Black on sports boycotts. Z. Mangaliso is a professor of sociology at Westfield State College in Westfield, Mass. Black is a professor of political science at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, Canada.

2:15 - 4:00 p.m.
Papers by Edward Tshidiso Maloka on the effects of sanctions on workers and the majority population and by Mzamo Mangaliso on sanctions versus constructive engagement. Maloka is a historian at the University of Cape Town in South Africa and is currently a post-doctoral research fellow at Princeton University. M. Mangaliso is a professor of management at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

4:15 - 6:00 p.m.
Papers by Audie Klotz on diplomatic sanctions and by Gilbert Khadiagala on the impact of sanctions on frontline states. Klotz is a professor of political science at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Khadiagala is a professor of political science at Kent State University, presently on leave and doing research in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.

Sunday, April 14

10:00 a.m. - Noon
Papers by David Fig on nuclear sanctions and by Neta Crawford on oil and arms embargoes. Fig is director of the Group for Environmental Monitoring, Johannesburg, South Africa, and a member of the National Parks Board of South Africa. Crawford is an assistant professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and currently a post-doctoral fellow at the Watson Institute.

12:15 - 2:00 p.m.
Papers by Meg Voorhes on university divestment and by Xavier Carim and Audie Klotz on financial sanctions. Voorhes is the director of the South Africa Research Service at the Investor Responsibility Research Center in Washington, D.C. Carim is deputy director of bilateral relations at the Department of Trade and Industry, in Pretoria, South Africa.

2:15 - 3:30 p.m.
A concluding discussion about how sanctions worked in South Africa.

Other Expert Participants

William Foltz - professor of political science at Yale University, presently on leave at the National Intelligence Council.

Jendayi Frazer - editor of Africa Today and an assistant professor at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

Arlene Getz - news reporter covering South Africa for Gemini News Service.

Willard Johnson - professor of political science at M.I.T.

Norma Krieger - professor of political science at Johns Hopkins University.