The Collapse of Rhodesia : Population Demographics and the Politics of Race

ISBN-13: 9781848854758 / Twarda / 2010 / 256 str.

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Opis

In the years leading up to Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence in 1965, its small and transient white population was balanced precariously atop a large and fast-growing African population. This unstable political demography was set against the backdrop of continent-wide decolonisation and a parallel rise in African nationalism within Rhodesia. The Collapse of Rhodesia provides a controversial re-examination of the final decades of white minority rule. Josiah Brownell argues that racial population demographics and the pressures they produced were a pervasive, but hidden, force behind many of Rhodesia's most dramatic political events, including UDI. He concludes that the UDI rebellion eventually failed because the state was unable to successfully redress white Rhodesia's fundamental demographic weaknesses. By addressing this vital demographic component of the multifaceted conflict, this book is an important contribution to the historiography of the last years of white rule in Rhodesia.

Spis treści

List of illustrations – ix List of abbreviations – xi Acknowledgements – xiii 1. Introduction: The Hidden War of Numbers in Rhodesia – 1 The Course of the Visible War – 4 Racial Numbers and the Nature of the Settler State – 7 The War of Numbers and the Nature of Rhodesia’s Racial Divisions – 14 The Hidden Ubiquity of Population Pressures – 16 The Historiography of Demographic Engineering – 20 Chapter Overview – 22 2. The Rationalism of Racial Population Imbalances: ‘A Matter of Political Consequences’ – 25 The Impact of the 1962 Census – 26 Counting, Controlling, and Regulating the African Population – 30 Proposed Solutions to the Population Problem – 35 The Casus Belli for the War of Numbers: the 1969 Census – 38 Control over the Numbers – 41 Conclusion – 42 3. The African Population Explosion: ‘The Greatest Problem’ – 45 Wealthy Populations, Poor Populations, and Neo=Malthusianism – 47 Historicising White Population Anxieties in Rhodesia – 50 The Origins of the State’s Population Policy – 56 The Failure of the State’s Population Policy – 63 Measuring the State’s Success – 66 Conclusion – 68 4. White Emigration: ‘There’s a Hole in the Bucket’ – 71 White Demography Reconsidered – 72 Exit, Voice, and Loyalty among White Rhodesians – 76 White Transience Explored – 79 The Economic Effects of White Emigration – 79 White Emigration and the Military Conflict – 81 The Political Consequences of White Emigration – 85 Engineering Emigration – 87 Conclusion – 94 5. Rhodesia’s Immigration Policy: ‘To Save Civilisation in this Country’ – 97 The Migration Market – 98 Discourses Concerning Immigration – 107 Economic Aspects of Immigration – 114 The Formation and Evolution of the State’s Immigration Policy – 116 Analysing the Post-UDI Immigration Yields – 124 Tensions and Contradictions in Rhodesia’s White Migration Policies – 128 Conclusion – 130 6. African Agency in the War of Numbers: ‘Nature is on Our Side’ – 131 White and African Perspectives on Population Matters – 132 The Politicisation of ‘Natural’ Growth Rates – 135 The Nexus between Population and Land – 137 Nationalist Propaganda – 141 African Influence on White Migration Patterns – 146 African Influence on the Rate of White Natural Increase – 149 Nationalist Resistance to the State’s Family Planning Initiatives – 154 Conclusion – 163 7. Conclusion – 165 Conundrums, Conflicts, and Contradictions within the State’s Population Policies – 169 The Timing of Rhodeisa’s Collapse – 173 Who was the Rhodesian Rebellion For? – 174 How Unique was Rhodesia’s Fate? – 177 Notes – 179 Bibliography – 223 Index – 233