ABSTRACT
The United States has a reputation for coercive intervention in the Third World and a less widely held reputation for diplomatic assistance. There are a number of recent cases that are helpful to the understanding of Third World conflict and the opportunities for preventive diplomacy. The cases of preventive diplomacy in southern Africa have had various degrees of success, but each has had instructive strengths and weaknesses. In Zimbabwe, a decade of unsuccessful British attempts following the Unilateral Declaration of Independence in 1965 preceded a US demarche in 1976 and an Anglo-American initiative in 1977 and 1978, before the final successful British effort within the commonwealth in 1979. Inducements to compromise may include economic and military aid, arms sales, supportive policy statements, and other instruments of diplomacy. Preventive diplomacy is not justifiable simply in its own terms or as an Olympian intervention to keep smaller states from hurting themselves.
