ABSTRACT
The chapter investigates US foreign policy in Southern Africa in the aftermath of the 1988 watershed until 1994. It deals with Washington’s policy towards the complex peace process in Angola, the democratic transition in South Africa and, to a lesser extent, the worsening of the political crisis in Zaire. The analysis of the 1988-1994 timeframe, through the governments of two different administrations, highlights how US involvement in Southern Africa after 1988 was very much connected with the general framework of the relationship with Moscow and it began to increasingly focus on different concerns (economic growth, democracy, human rights and so on only after the demise of the USSR in 1991. The chapter also shows Washington’s broad shift and reshaping of the network of relations with the main regional actors involved in the ongoing political transformations in Angola and South Africa. This shift is also a clear indicator of the changes in American strategies and priorities in the region.
