| Popis: |
This chapter analyzes the leadership style of Malawi’s founding head of state, Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda, from 1964 to 1994. The major focus is on Dr Banda’s autocratic rule, his choice of international allies, and how these processes were very much influenced by the cold war. By analyzing the president’s public statements and his choice of international allies, I show that since the president was pro-Western, he favored the establishment of diplomatic relations with countries that had capitalist values, sometimes against the resolutions of the African Union and the United Nations Organization. Dr Banda’s government established diplomatic relations with Apartheid South Africa, Portuguese East Africa (now Mozambique), and the Republic of China (ROC), and in spite of these controversial decisions, he continued to enjoy the support of the Western powers because of his strong anticommunist standing. Due to his ideological stand, the West tolerated and worked with the Banda regime despite its appalling human rights record. It was only in the aftermath of the cold war that the Western powers, no longer in need of Third World allies, began to pressurize the Malawi government to open up its political and economic system. |
