Changing Realities in Southern Africa: Implications for American Policy, and: U.S. Economic Power and Political Influence in Namibia, 1700-1982, and: Namibia: Political and Economic Prospects, and: To Be Born a Nation: The Liberation Struggle for Namibia (review)

230 SAIS REVIEW second stage was never implemented. With the murder of Viera, the program that he fought so hard to hold together fell apart. Professor Montgomery also appears to believe that some land was given to the right-wing organization ORDEN, something which in fact never happened. Whereas Professor Baloyra sees hope for the future of El Salvador in the democratic, capitalist model achieved through an electoral process (p. 183), Professor Montgomery sees hope in the eventual triumph of the revolutionary Left (p. 157), which would create "democratic structures different from those traditionally associated with liberal democracy." Revolutionary regimes generally regard their revolutions as irreversible, thus limit, as in Nicaragua, any sort of democracy that might reflect a counterrevolutionary public opinion. Such leaders of the Left as Joaquin Villalobos are more than likely to enforce their point of view at the point of a gun. Still, it is difficult to see any solution for El Salvador other than a triumph of the Left. As long as the corrupt military system remains in place, El Salvador will remain a gangster state, no matter what cosmetic changes might come about through the electoral process. Furthermore, only a total marshaling of efforts, probably best achieved by the Left, can rescue the country from the economic and social disaster into which it has fallen. The bestiality of the Salvadoran state is privately acknowledged by many of the Washington politicians who publicly support increased aid. They agree that we are forking money over to SOBs, "but they are our SOBs," defending our interests in the global struggle against Moscow. Making national security such an overriding consideration that it demands U.S. support for any government, no matter how abysmal, is in itself an atrocity. If the security of the United States can only be achieved by such means, then a frightening truth about the United States and its purported ideals is revealed. One is driven to wonder how long despotism can be supported abroad without bringing about despotism at home. Changing Realities in Southern Africa: Implications for American Policy. By Michael Clough, editor. Berkeley, Calif.: Institute of International Studies, University of California, 1982. 318 pp. $11.00. U.S. Economic Power and Political Influence in Namibia, 1700—1982. By Allan D. Cooper. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1982. 222 pp. $22.00. Namibia: Political and Economic Prospects. By Robert I. Rotberg, editor. Lexington, Mass: D.C. Heath and Co., 1983. 144 pp. $18.95. To Be Born a Nation: The Liberation Strugglefor Namibia. By the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO), Department of Information and Publicity. London: Zed Press. 357 pp. $9.95. Reviewed by John Marcum, eminent Africanùt and currently vice-chancellor of the University of California, Santa Cruz. Independence for Namibia has become the issue on which the Reagan administration's Africa policies are likely to be judged. From its arid isolation BOOK REVIEWS 231 bordering the cold South Atlantic, this modest land (larger than Texas, with a population the size of San Antonio) confronts the international community with a serious, but anachronistic issue of decolonization. Namibia and South Africa aside, the whole African continent has achieved political independence under forms of majority rule, albeit forms mostly less than democratic by Western standards. Acknowledging that the eagerness of African states to eliminate the remaining vestiges of colonialism from their continent is compatible with "the traditional American desire to help the spread of self-government and democracy." Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Chester A. Crocker has affirmed that there are "profound political reasons for engaging in the effort to bring independence to Namibia." However, within the "highly charged, politically polarized environment" of southern Africa, he argues, it is necessary to pursue this effort by building a framework of regional accommodations and security assurances. Essential to this process is the withdrawal of Cuban troops from Namibia's northern neighbor, Angola. The Cuban troop issue, says Crocker, is "not one we made up. It is an objective reality at the core of the question of regional security." South Africa, according to Crocker, regards it as "fundamental." Therefore, as a "practical diplomatic matter," Crocker contends, it will not be possible or desirable to...