Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence: National, International, and Transnational Perspectives
By (Author) Sue Onslow
Edited by Hugh Pattenden
Edited by Carl P. Watts
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Bloomsbury Academic
13th November 2025
United Kingdom
Professional and Scholarly
Non Fiction
Decolonisation and postcolonial studies
Hardback
256
Width 156mm, Height 234mm
60 years on from Rhodesias Unilateral Declaration of Independence in 1965, this book brings together its most important themes to examine its consequences and offer the most comprehensive overview to date.
Situating the UDI in its local, regional and international context, this collection offers a range of historical approaches; political, economic, social, cultural, international and transnational to provide a richer and deeper understanding of contemporary Zimbabwe. From the origins of the UDI, to the response of Britain and the Commonwealth, it explores the implications for US foreign policy, transnational cooperation, the South African liberation movements, oil sanctions, international sports boycotts and African Nationalism.
Based on an array of rich archival and oral history sources, this book brings together new ways of understanding the multiple and complex dimensions of Rhodesias UDI and highlights its importance to wider African and World history.
Sue Onslow is a Visiting Professor in the Department of Political Economy at Kings College London, UK, and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. A leading historians of Rhodesias UDI, she has published extensively on Southern Africa in the Cold War era including books and in journals such as Britain and the World, Cold War History, The South African Historical Journal, The Journal of Southern African Studies, The Round Table: The Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs, and The International History Review.
Hugh Pattenden is a Visiting Academic at the Centre for Imperial and Post-Colonial Studies at the University of Southampton, UK, an Associate Fellow at the Institute of Historical Research in the University of London, and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. His research on UDI has appeared in a range of journals, including the International History Review, the Journal of Contemporary History, the Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, and War in History.
Carl P. Watts is Assistant Professor of National Security Studies at the US Air Force Global College of Professional Military Education, USA, and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. His research on UDI has been published in Commonwealth & Comparative Politics, Diplomatic History, The Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History, The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, 20th Century British History and elsewhere.