Interdependence, ethnicity and anti-apartheid : the case of TransAfrica

This work examines the interaction between the variables of interdependence and ethnicity in the context of American anti-apartheid. As a focus of this work the anti-apartheid group TransAfrica is examined, its connections to other anti-apartheid groups both inside and outside the US, its relationships with other nonanti-apartheid groups, and various state actors. The work provides an examination of the rise of black American political structures within the context of anti-apartheid and it is argued that it is due to the rise of black American political power that there is a considerable black American presence in the anti-apartheid environment. Furthermore, it is argued that black Americans are present in anti-apartheid because of 1) long standing historical trends within black America, 2) the nature of Pan-Africanism, 3) the relative lack of consensus within the black American political community over domestic US issues, and 4) the level of interdependence between black Americans and other members of the African diaspora. As a central theme of this thesis is the claim that black Americans possess real, legitimate, and long standing foreign policy interests that are as important as any domestic concern that that group may have possessed. In order to demonstrate this argument the thesis contains the following chapters: 1) outline of the theoretical framework that describes the interaction between interdependence, ethnicity and anti-apartheid, 2) the history of black American political structures, 3) the conflict in southern Africa, which provides a backdrop against which TransAfrica's actions are measured, 4) the basic elements of TransAfrica, including its funding, issues structure and membership, as well as many of its more prominent actions, 5) examples of TransAfrica as a transnational actor, and 6) a concluding chapter which outlines the illustration that TransAfrica is indeed a transnational actor, which seeks to further the interests of black America by influencing the making of US foreign policy.