The Quiet Diplomacy Of Liberation

A leading analyst of South Africa's national and foreign policy chronicles the complexities of the transition from apartheid to democracy and South Africa's current approach to diplomacy in Africa and further afield.

Offering an examination of the diplomatic and economic regional power structures in Africa and their relationships with each other, Dawn Nagar discusses the potential and future of pan-Africanism. The three primary regional economic communities (RECs) that are recognised by the African Union as the key building blocks of a united Africa are examined - these are the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC). These RECS include Africa's major economies – Egypt, South Africa, and Kenya but are also home to Africa's most conflict prone and volatile states – the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Burundi, South Sudan, Somalia and Lesotho. Providing a detailed overview of the current relationship between these power blocs, this book provides insight into the current state of diplomatic and economic relations within Africa and shows how far there is to go for a future of Pan-Africanism.

This book explores the role of the modern Commonwealth in the international campaign against apartheid in South Africa. Spanning the period of South Africa’s apartheid state, from its foundation in 1948 until its ending in April 1994, the author demonstrates that, after the 1960 Sharpeville massacre and South Africa’s subsequent exclusion from the Commonwealth, the organisation was able to become both "pathfinder and interlocutor" on the road to South Africa’s freedom. As well as South Africa’s ejection from the Commonwealth, apartheid’s increasing isolation was sustained by the Commonwealth’s pioneering work in boycotting apartheid sport, as well as campaigning to stop arms sales. It also played an important role in internationalising economic and financial sanctions, credited by some as the final nail in apartheid’s coffin, and was able to make an important and distinctive contribution to the transition to democracy. At the same time, critical debates within the Commonwealth about racial and political equality transformed the association from a docile, post-imperial organisation, led by the UK and in its own interests, to a modern, multiracial ‘North-South’ forum for reconciling global difference and overcoming the legacies of colonialism. This comprehensive and authoritative account of the Commonwealth’s engagement with apartheid South Africa is intended for all those who study and research the modern Commonwealth, its structure and influence, and for those with a general interest in contemporary post-war history.

The emergence of a 'new' democratic South Africa under Nelson Mandela was regarded as a high watermark for international ideals of human rights and democracy. Much was expected of the ANC in power, particularly that it would be able to translate its ideals into a coherent foreign policy for the African continent. Yet its foreign policy since 1994 has been mired in accusations of incoherence, contradiction and failure. Here, based on extensive archival research and interviews, Matthew Graham offers new ways of interpreting South Africa's foreign policy by investigating the continuities and discontinuities of the ANC's international relations - from exile to political power. Charting the political intrigues during the country's transition from apartheid, and the subsequent influences on Presidents Mandela and Mbeki, The Crisis of South African Foreign Policy makes a vital contribution to our understanding of why post-apartheid South Africa has failed to lead Africa on the world stage.

This volume is an anthology of thought-pieces about the ANC, contributed by a variety of scholars and thinkers. It gives voice to a variety of perspectives on the subject. The fact that some authors disagree with each other is all part of what will, we hope, be an on-going debate. The book originated from a series of public dialogues that began before the centenary year and continued afterwards, being held at the University of Free State. The first section covers reflections on how knowledge of the history of the ANC has advanced and the position of that history in the general history of the liberation struggle. This section aids a critical appraisal of the state of primary sources used in writing the history of the ANC. Chapters in the second half of the book, consider some of the various contexts in which the ANC has operated, and continues to operate. These include the evolution of the ANC's economic policy and how it has changed over time; the kind of leadership the organisation provided in redefining gender relations and most importantly the ANC and international relations, especially seen from the vantage point of 'progressive internationalism'. The last section examines the evolution of Pan-Africanism in the ANC's ideological development.

How successful have Southern African states been in dealing with the major issues that have faced the region in recent years? What could be done to produce more cohesive and effective region-building in Southern Africa? In this original and wide-ranging volume, which draws on an interdisciplinary team of mainly African and African-based specialists, the key political, socio-economic, and security challenges facing Southern Africa today are addressed. These include the various issues confronting the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and its institutions; such as HIV/AIDS, migration and xenophobia, land-grabbing and climate change; and the role of the main external actors involved with the region, including the United Nations, the European Union, the United States, and China. The book also looks at the Southern African Customs Union and Southern African Development Finance Institutions, including the Development Bank of Southern Africa and Industrial Development Corporation, and issues of gender and peacebuilding. In doing so, the book goes to the heart of analyzing the effectiveness of SADC and other regional organisation, suggesting how region-building in Southern Africa may be compared with similar attempts elsewhere in Africa and other parts of the world.

South Africa is a major player in African diplomacy. Its economic, diplomatic and military resources far outstrip those of other nations on the continent, and it has, since the country's 1994 democratic transition, sought to take a lead role in the continent's relations with other power blocs, particularly during the 1999-2008 presidency of Thabo Mbeki. While Mbeki's push for greater African engagement in the global political sphere drew widespread praise, other positions-notably its seeming inaction toward Zimbabwe and perceived abandonment of its stated emphasis on human rights in foreignpolicy-were more controversial, both at home and abroad. John Siko has had insider access to South Africa's leading foreign policy players, and has been able to ask why Pretoria has taken its various stances and who has mattered in influencing those decisions, a topic little examined since 1994. In addition, he examines the foreign policy process over the past century, determining that despite ANC promises of greater democratic engagement on foreign policy, the process has changed quite little.

South Africa is the most industrialized power in Africa. It was rated the continent's largest economy in 2016 and is the only African member of the G20. It is also the only strategic partner of the EU in Africa. Yet despite being so strategically and economically significant, there is little scholarship that focuses on South Africa as a regional hegemon. This book provides the first comprehensive assessment of South Africa's post-Apartheid foreign policy. Over its 23 chapters - -and with contributions from established Africa, Western, Asian and American scholars, as well as diplomats and analysts - the book examines the current pattern of the country's foreign relations in impressive detail. The geographic and thematic coverage is extensive, including chapters on: the domestic imperatives of South Africa's foreign policy; peace-making; defence and security; bilateral relations in Southern, Central, West, Eastern and North Africa; bilateral relations with the US, China, Britain, France and Japan; the country's key external multilateral relations with the UN; the BRICS economic grouping; the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group (ACP); as well as the EU and the World Trade Organization (WTO). An essential resource for researchers, the book will be relevant to the fields of area studies, foreign policy, history, international relations, international law, security studies, political economy and development studies.