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Chester Crocker

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Chester Crocker
Crocker in 2006
9th Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs
In office
June 9, 1981 – April 21, 1989
PresidentRonald Reagan
George H. W. Bush
Preceded byRichard M. Moose
Succeeded byHerman Jay Cohen
Personal details
Born (1941-10-29) October 29, 1941 (age 84)
New York City, New York, U.S.
PartyRepublican
ChildrenBathsheba Crocker
OccupationDiplomat

Chester Arthur Crocker (born October 29, 1941) is an American diplomat and scholar who served as Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs from June 9, 1981, to April 21, 1989, in the Reagan administration.[1] Crocker, architect of the U.S. policy of "constructive engagement" towards Southern Africa including apartheid-era South Africa, is credited with setting the terms of Namibian independence.[2][3]

Background

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Crocker was born in New York City in 1941. He attended Ohio State University and graduated with distinction in history in 1963. He obtained a master's degree at Johns Hopkins University in 1965, followed by a Ph.D. at the School of Advanced International Studies. From 1969 to 1970, Crocker was a lecturer in African government and politics at the American University in Washington, D.C. He was recruited to join the National Security Council by Henry Kissinger[4] in 1970, but returned to academia in 1972 as director of the Master of Science in Foreign Service program at Georgetown University, where he lectured in African politics and international relations. Over the course of the next nine years, Crocker advanced to assistant professor, and finally became associate professor at Georgetown University.[5]

Constructive engagement

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As chairman of Ronald Reagan's 1980 presidential election campaign's "Africa working group", Crocker sought to change US policy on apartheid South Africa away from what he saw as the confrontational approach adopted by the Carter presidency and towards a new policy which he termed "constructive engagement." Shortly after the election, Crocker attracted the attention of the Reagan transition team with an article he wrote in the winter 1980/81 edition of the Foreign Affairs journal. In the article, Crocker was highly critical of the outgoing Carter administration for its apparent hostility to the white minority government in South Africa, by acquiescing in the United Nations Security Council's imposition of a mandatory arms embargo (UNSCR 418/77) and the UN's demand for the end of South Africa's illegal occupation of Namibia (UNSCR 435/78). Crocker's policy linked the removal of South African forces from Namibia with the removal of Cuban forces from Angola, which many U.S. diplomats considered to be of vital importance. Without Cuban withdrawal, it was deemed unlikely by diplomats that South Africa would see an incentive to begin the removal of its own troops from Namibia. It was hoped that Cuba would view the withdrawal of its troops as a successful conclusion to their efforts in Africa as it would confirm Cuba's role as a significant player on the diplomatic stage.[6] Crocker conceived constructive engagement as a strategy toward the entire region of southern Africa, and was premised on working with those governments and parties that were prepared to work with Washington to resolve regional problems.[7]

In addition to the focus on Namibia/Angola, he worked to reduce civil strife in Mozambique. This included overseeing the Nkomati Accord, encouraging the FRELIMO government to move towards the West and highlighting RENAMO's human rights abuses during the Mozambican civil war.[8] In 1987-1988, Crocker alerted senior U.S. government officials to these abuses through reporting by Robert Gersony.[9]

On February 7, 1981, Crocker formally proposed that the United States should link Namibian independence to the withdrawal of Cuban troops from Angola, where they had formed a 700 km defensive line to prevent South African assaults similar to the 'Zulu' invasion of 1975. In April 1981, Assistant Secretary of State-designate Crocker was dispatched to Africa on a two-week, eleven-nation tour to lay the groundwork for the new policy.[10] However, Crocker was met with distrust on one side – the black leaders wary of the Reagan administration's friendly approach towards the white-minority government in South Africa – and hostility from the other, with prime minister P. W. Botha refusing to meet with him. Undeterred, Crocker continued to insist that a comprehensive solution was the only way to allay the fears on both sides. In his testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on February 15, 1983, he argued:

Security, of which the Cuban troop issue is an integral part, has always been a prerequisite for agreement on Namibian independence. As a practical diplomatic matter, it will not be possible to obtain a Namibian independence agreement without satisfactory regional security assurances.

Resolution 435 already required South Africa to leave Namibia so the incorporation of Cuba and Angola was deemed unnecessary in the eyes of some. The policy's requirement to cooperate with the South African government was viewed unfavorably by politicians and human rights organizations on account of the implicit condoning of apartheid. Author/journalist Christopher Hitchens gives credit for the independence agreement to the South-West Africa People's Organization, rather than to constructive engagement.[11] However, UN diplomat Martti Ahtisaari contended that "South Africa had not the least intention of relinquishing Namibia."[12] Crocker's analysis of the situation from the perspective of the South African government concluded that this delay would never be overcome unless the South Africans felt that the execution of resolution 435 offered them an incentive.[13]

In spite of such criticisms and the initial distrust among black African leaders, Crocker persevered in his pursuit of a negotiated settlement for the related conflicts in Angola and Namibia. Crocker was assisted by his chief deputy, Frank G. Wisner, who had been the U.S. ambassador to Zambia between August 1979 and April 1982.[14] Vernon Walters, an ambassador-at-large, played a secondary role conducting a tour of southern African capitals with Wisner during the course of June 1982.[15][16] Crocker managed to gain the trust of Kenneth Kaunda, the Zambian president. Kaunda visited the White House for talks with Ronald Reagan in March 1983, and agreed to host an international conference in February 1984 which resulted in the Lusaka Accords, a small but significant step forward in the search for peace in southern Africa.[17]

Relaxing the arms embargo

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On April 3, 1984, Richard Knight of the American Committee on Africa reported to the United Nations Special Committee against Apartheid on the effects the new policy was having:

The Reagan administration's policy of constructive engagement has already led to a significant relaxation of the arms embargo. Stressing the goal of regional stability, the American government has now adopted a policy which they see as an 'even-handed' approach to all countries in the region. Thus the Reagan administration seeks to blame all sides equally for the violence in the region, ignoring the fact that the violence stems from apartheid. In reality there is no even-handedness in the US's engagement in southern Africa: a policy which in the last three years has resulted in an increased South African ability to harass and dominate regionally. A study of the easing of the arms embargo reveals that more than $28.3 million worth of military equipment was authorised for sale to South Africa for fiscal years 1981-1984, as compared to $25,000 for 1979.[18]

While the FNLA and UNITA were funded by South Africa and the U.S., the Soviet Union had provided billions of dollars in military support for the MPLA, which was identified as a socialist group. By the end of the 1970s, Angola had become the focus of the USSR's African policy.[19]

Namibian independence

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Crocker intensified his mediation efforts in successive years. In May 1988 he headed a U.S. mediation team which brought negotiators from Angola, Cuba and South Africa, and observers from the Soviet Union together in London. Intense diplomatic maneuvering characterized the next seven months so as to implement United Nations Security Council Resolution 435 and secure Namibian independence. At the Reagan/Gorbachev summit in Moscow (May 29-June 1, 1988), the regional conflicts in Central America, Afghanistan, and Southern Africa, where the mediation effort was headed by Crocker, were discussed and ongoing negotiations received encouragement.[20][21]. While an agreement was not reached, Crocker and Anatoly Adamishin, a Soviet Deputy Foreign Minister, set 29 September as a target date for resolving outstanding differences on a settlement leading to withdrawal of Cuban troops from Angola, and independence for South-West Africa.[21] The Tripartite Accord, which gave effect to these decisions, were signed at UN headquarters in New York on December 22, 1988.[22] Crocker attended the signing ceremony along with George Shultz. UNSR Martti Ahtisaari took over from Crocker in April 1989 and began the implementation of UNSCR 435.

In May 1989 Crocker stepped down as Assistant Secretary of State and returned to academia at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service.

Elections were held from the 7–11 November 1989 and Namibia finally achieved independence from South Africa on 21 March 1990.[23][24]

Chas. W. Freeman Jr commented at the time that "the emergence of Namibia as a stable, decent society with a well-managed economy would inspire more rapid change away from apartheid in South Africa."[25] He later commented in a 1995 interview with Charles Stuart Kennedy for the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training that "there is no doubt that the South African opening to the outside world, which Crocker's diplomacy ultimately brokered and which produced the Cuban troop withdrawal from Angola and the Namibian independence in 1989, was a fundamental factor in impelling P. W. Botha's successor, F. W. De Klerk, in the direction of releasing Mandela and opening the political process to black South African participation."[26]

Martti Ahtisaari was also of the opinion that the policy of constructive engagement acted as an undeniable catalyst for resolution. He remarked that "those of us close to the matter were aware that if nothing new was put forward we would remain in this situation for the rest of our lives. But we couldn't declare publicly that this was an excellent idea – although in the final analysis it was a bold and adroit move by Crocker."[27]

Notable positions held

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Crocker in 2023

From 1969 to 1970 Crocker was professional lecturer in African government and politics at the American University, before he left to join the Kissinger National Security Council staff. He returned to academia in 1972, as director of the Master of Science in Foreign Service program at Georgetown University, a position he held until 1978. He concurrently served as director of African studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (1976–80).[28] Crocker became the James R. Schlesinger Professor in the Practice of Strategic Studies at Georgetown University. He also serves as Schlesinger fellow in strategic studies at the School's Institute for the Study of Diplomacy.[29]

Other notable positions held include service at the United States Institute of Peace, which supports research, education and training, as well as operating programs in conflict zones. He held the position of chairman of the board from 1992 to 2004, after which Crocker continued on as a board member until 2011.[30]

He is also a member of the Global Leadership Foundation, an independent, non-profit organisation which lends the expertise of established diplomats and world leaders to current governments. From May 2014 Crocker acted as a distinguished fellow with CIGI's Global Security & Politics Program, leading a project that examined Africa's regional conflict management strategy.[31]

In addition to these, Crocker sat on the board of directors of the International Peace and Security Institute, which offered intensive education and training to young professionals from world leaders in an effort to promote peaceful diplomacy. On September 18 2008, Crocker was appointed to the World Bank's new Independent Advisory Board (IAB).[32]

In 2020, Crocker, along with over 130 other former Republican national security officials, signed a statement that asserted that President Trump was unfit to serve another term, and "To that end, we are firmly convinced that it is in the best interest of our nation that Vice President Joe Biden be elected as the next President of the United States, and we will vote for him."[33]

Personal and family life

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Crocker married Saone Baron with whom he had three daughters including Bathsheba Crocker.[34] After her death he married Pamela Aall, with whom he has written several books.[35][better source needed]


Awards

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In 1989, Ronald Reagan awarded Crocker with the Presidential Citizen's Medal.

In 1992, Crocker was awarded an honorary doctorate from Rhodes University.[36]

On September 18, 2008, Crocker was appointed to the World Bank's new Independent Advisory Board, (IAB), which will provide advice on anti-corruption measures.[37]

List of affiliations

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List of published works

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  • Chester Crocker, High Noon in Southern Africa: Making Peace in a Rough Neighborhood. New York, NY: W. W. Norton, 1992.
  • Chester Crocker and David Smock, African Conflict Resolution: The U.S. Role. Washington, DC: U.S. Institute of Peace, 1995.
  • Chester Crocker and Fen Osler Hampson, Managing Global Chaos: Origins of and Responses to International Conflict. Washington, DC: U.S. Institute of Peace, 1996.
  • Chester Crocker, Fen Osler Hampson and Pamela Aall, Herding Cats: Multiparty Mediation in a Complex World. Washington, DC: U.S. Institute of Peace, 1999.
  • Chester Crocker, Fen Osler Hampson and Pamela Aall, Turbulent Peace: The Challenges of Managing International Conflict. Washington, DC: U.S. Institute of Peace Press, 2001.
  • Chester Crocker, Fen Osler Hampson and Pamela Aall, Taming Intractable Conflicts: Mediation in the Hardest Cases. Washington, DC: U.S. Institute of Peace Press, 2004.
  • Chester Crocker, Fen Osler Hampson and Pamela Aall, Grasping the Nettle: Analyzing Cases of Intractable Conflict. Washington, D.C.: United States Institute of Peace, 2005.
  • Chester A Crocker, Fen Osler Hampson, and Pamela Aall, ed. Leashing the Dogs of War: Conflict Management in a Divided World. Washington D.C.: United States Institute of Peace, 2007.
  • Chester Crocker, Casimir Yost, and Thomas Pickering, America's Role in the World: Foreign Policy Choices for the Next Administration. Washington D.C.: Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, 2008.
  • Chester Crocker, Fen Osler Hampson, and Pamela Aall, Rewiring Regional Security in a Fragmented World. Washington, DC: U.S. Institute of Peace Press, 2010.
  • Chester A. Crocker, Fen Osler Hampson and Pamela Aall (ed.), Managing Conflict in a World Adrift (2015)
  • Chester A. Crocker and Pamela Aall, ed. Minding the Gap: African Conflict Management in a Time of Change. Canada: Centre for International Governance Innovation, 2016.

References

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  1. ↑ Office of the Historian. "Chester A. Crocker". history.state.gov. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
  2. ↑ "Episode 25 - Chester Crocker". United States Institute of Peace. Archived from the original on September 22, 2018. Retrieved 2023-07-30.
  3. ↑ Kaela, Laurent C.W. (1993). "The United States and the Decolonization of Namibia: The Reagan Years". Transafrican Journal of History. 22: 122–141. ISSN 0251-0391. JSTOR 24328640.
  4. ↑ Lindsay, Drew (November 2001). "71 People the President Should Listen To". Washingtonian.com. Retrieved 12 January 2017.
  5. ↑ Who's Who in America (70th ed.). New Jersey: Marquis Who's Who. 2016. ISBN 978-0-8379-7062-2.
  6. ↑ Freeman Jr., Chas. W. (June 1989). "The Angola/Namibia Accords". Foreign Affairs. 68 (Summer 1989): 126–141. doi:10.2307/20044012. JSTOR 20044012. Retrieved 12 January 2017.
  7. ↑ Eizenstat, Stuart E. (May 2024). The Art of Diplomacy: How American Negotiators Reached Historic Agreements that Changed the World. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers / Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 173. ISBN 9781538167991.
  8. ↑ Azevedo, Mario (1991). "Mozambique and the West: The Search for Common Ground, 1975-1991". Journal of Conflict Studies. 11 (2): 37–39.
  9. ↑ Kaplan, Robert D. (January 2021). The Good American: The Epic Life of Bob Gersony, the U.S. Government's Greatest Humanitarian. Random House Publishing Group. pp. 194–197. ISBN 978-0525512301.
  10. ↑ Nossiter, Bernard D. (19 April 1981). "U.S.-Africa Ties Face Test Over Sanctions". The New York Times. The New York Times.
  11. ↑ Hitchens, Christopher (1993). For the sake of Argument: Essays and Minority Reports. Verso. p. 99. ISBN 0-86091-435-6.
  12. ↑ Merikallio, Katri; Ruokanen, Tapani (2015). The Mediator: A Biography of Martti Ahtisaari, trans. David Mitchell and Pamela Kaskinen. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 100. ISBN 978-1-84904-318-2.
  13. ↑ Hitchens, Christopher (1993). For the sake of Argument: Essays and Minority Reports. Verso. p. 99. ISBN 0-86091-435-6.
  14. ↑ "U.S. Pushes To Get Cubans Out Of Angola". The New York Times. The New York Times. 26 September 1982.
  15. ↑ Oberdorfer, Don (3 June 1982). "White House Quickens Pace Of Diplomacy Toward Africa". The Washington Post. The Washington Post.
  16. ↑ Weinraub, Bernard (15 June 1982). "U.S. Officials Hopeful On Namibia Talks". The New York Times. The New York Times.
  17. ↑ Andy DeRoche, Kenneth Kaunda, the United States and Southern Africa (London: Bloomsbury, 2016), 186-196.
  18. ↑ Reagan administration's policy of "constructive engagement" and the arms embargo against South Africa Archived July 1, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  19. ↑ Bervoets, Jeremy. "The Soviet Union in Angola Soviet and African Perspectives on the Failed Socialist Transformation". sras.org. Archived from the original on 2017-01-18. Retrieved 12 January 2017.
  20. ↑ "Joint Statement Following the Soviet-United States Summit Meeting in Moscow | Ronald Reagan". www.reaganlibrary.gov. 1 June 1988.
  21. 1 2 Taubman, Philip (2 June 1988). "Moscow Summit: Gorbachev Criticizes Reagan, Seeing 'Missed Opportunities,' But Calls Visit A 'Major Event'; Summit Talks End". The New York Times. The New York Times.
  22. ↑ Agreement Among the People's Republic of Angola, the Republic of Cuba, and the Republic of South Africa Archived 2009-01-14 at the Wayback Machine
  23. ↑ "AFRICAN ELECTIONS DATABASE". AfricanElections.tripod.com. Retrieved 12 January 2017.
  24. ↑ United Nations report on Namibia's independence
  25. ↑ Freeman Jr., Chas. W. (June 1989). "The Angola/Namibia Accords". Foreign Affairs. 68 (Summer 1989): 126–141. doi:10.2307/20044012. JSTOR 20044012. Retrieved 12 January 2017.
  26. ↑ "Interview with Ambassador Chas W. Freeman, Jr. Interviewed by Charles Stuart Kennedy" (PDF). ADST.org. 1 The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training. April 14, 1995. Retrieved 12 January 2017.
  27. ↑ Merikallio, Katri; Ruokanen, Tapani (2015). The Mediator: A Biography of Martti Ahtisaari, trans. David Mitchell and Pamela Kaskinen. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 103. ISBN 978-1-84904-318-2.
  28. ↑ Crocker, Chester; Pachter, Elise. "Reagan's Africa Policy: Chester Crocker with Elise Pachter". SAIS Review. 3 (1): 83–97. doi:10.1353/sais.1983.0013.
  29. ↑ "Faculty & Staff". Institute for the Study of Diplomacy Georgetown University.
  30. ↑ "Chester A. Crocker Global Leadership Foundation". Global Leadership Foundation.
  31. ↑ Dias, Kevin (2 June 2014). "Chester A. Crocker and Pamela Aall join CIGI as Distinguished and Senior Fellows". Centre for International Governance Innovation. Centre for International Governance Innovation.
  32. ↑ "Annual Update Fiscal Year 2014" (PDF). World Bank. World Bank Group.
  33. ↑ "Former Republican National Security Officials for Biden". Defending Democracy Together. 20 August 2020. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
  34. ↑ Eilperin, Juliet (2017-06-19). "Saone Baron Crocker, a lawyer and cancer patient advocate, dies at 74". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2026-05-05.
  35. ↑ Driver, C. J. (n.d.). Used to be Great Friends (Radical Jews in 1970s South Africa): http://nivat.f2s.com/cjdriver.doc
  36. ↑ "Rhodes University Honorary Doctorates". RU.ac.za. 4 March 2013. Retrieved 9 January 2017.
  37. ↑ Appointments to World Bank Anti-Corruption Board
  38. ↑ G3 Chester A. Crocker Archived January 10, 2013, at the Wayback Machine, G3, 2 October 2012.

Further reading

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  • Campbell, Horace. "Constructive Engagement? Chester Crocker and American Policy in South Africa, Namibia and Angola 1981-1988." International Journal of African Historical Studies (2008): 333–336.
  • Crocker, Chester. High Noon in Southern Africa: Making Peace in a Rough Neighborhood (1992). 533 pp; his memoir.
  • Kagan-Guthrie, Zachary. "Chester Crocker and the South African Border War, 1981–1989: A Reappraisal of Linkage." Journal of Southern African Studies 35.1 (2009): 65–80.
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