The Collapse of Rhodesia: Population Demographics and the Politics of Race (International Library of African Studies): v. 28 - Hardcover

Josiah Brownell

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1848854757 ISBN 13: 9781848854758

Publisher: Tauris Academic Studies, 2010

Synopsis

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 reexamination 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.

About this title

Product Description:

Hard to Find book

Review:

'This is a meticulously researched and eloquently expressed work, which makes its provocative argument very well. The author's primary contention is that demographics are a critical yet overlooked factor in the history of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) between 1960 and 1979. Josiah Brownell's argument is based in detailed empirical evidence, drawing together data from a range of sources that have not previously been considered in this way. He provides a welcome comparison with the fate of other white settler projects in Central and Southern Africa and detailed exploration of the centrality of population issues. This book is a welcome addition to the literature on general African history, contemporary Southern African history, as well as British decolonization and the end of empire in Southern Africa.' --Sue Onslow, co-Head of Africa International Affairs Programme, LSE IDEAS, The London School of Economics and Political Science

About this edition

• Publisher: Tauris Academic Studies
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1848854757
• ISBN 13: 9781848854758
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 256