ABSTRACT
The focus period in United States (US) and South African foreign policies towards Africa was one where key officials in Washington and Pretoria were able to move beyond merely reacting to events, and instead, began to formulate clearer goals for the future. For the Clinton administration, nearly all goals were tied to its enlargement doctrine—a doctrine which maintained that the US had an obligation, and indeed an inherent national interest, in broadening and deepening democratic and economic liberalism. American officials were taken aback when their South African counterparts expressed considerable reservations, and even outright criticisms, of the African Crisis Response Force (ACRF). While not opposed to some of the ACRF's principles in theory, South African officials resented that the ACRF-idea was being imposed on them, they felt, instead of created with them. Like their American counterparts, frustration was an emotion not at all unknown to South African officials—especially at the start of the focus period.
