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Australia's relationship with South Africa was founded on their being two groups of colonies, and later dominions, in the British Empire. As remote settler societies there were certain affinities, anxiously promoted by South Africa and usually resisted by Australia. Australian prime ministers played a major role in helping to bring about majority rule, but since 1994 the relationship has stiffened. For South Africa, partly for geopolitical reasons, the Commonwealth remains a functional concept; for Australia, it has lost much of its efficacy. Australia and South Africa have also exchanged two significant migrations: of Australian miners and artisans to the Rand around the turn of last century, and of South African emigrants to Australia in our own time. Trade between the two countries is increasing, and a new range and diversity in contact has occurred, with the resumption of full relations since the apartheid years. Given South Africa's disjunction from its immediate past, it is difficult at present to indicate what forms the relationship might take in future. The paper therefore sketches the whole history of interaction between the two countries, drawing attention to its phases and reconfigurations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The continuing crisis over Zimbabwe raises a variety of issues of considerable interest to both the theorist and the practitioner of foreign policy: the merits or otherwise of contemporary attempts at state classification; the utility and morality of intervention in a state's internal affairs by economic or military means; the notion of hegemony; the assumptions underpinning African diplomacy; the incentives and constraints attendant on South Africa's foreign policy. In attempting to explain South Africa's role in the Zimbabwean crisis this paper will—where appropriate—make reference to these theoretical concerns on the assumption that the interaction between South Africa and Zimbabwe provides some revealing insights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses various articles contained in this issue of the journal including the report by Rick Fawn on the impact of the Iraq War on the British Commonwealth and an examination of relations between South Africa and the Middle East by Eduard Jordaan.

Despite the increasing influence of non-state actors in international affairs, soft power analysis in Africa and globally remains state-centric. By extension, assessment of individuals' soft power is undeveloped. This article examines the extent to which, if at all, Olusegun Obasanjo and Thabo Mbeki wielded soft power in the international arena both during and after their presidencies. It examines their idiosyncratic traits and varied ideas and policies, particularly with regard to pan-Africanism and African Renaissance that generate or undercut soft power. The article concludes that Obasanjo and Mbeki have successfully used their soft power and international clout to make significant contributions in Africa and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the beginning of the transition from apartheid to democracy, the African National Congress (ANC) was unprepared for foreign policy discussion, a lack of readiness magnified by the collapse of international Communism and the Cold War ideology. President De Klerk and the National Party controlled foreign policy in the early years of the transition and began the process of reintegration with the international community, The ANC initially struggled to adapt to the new international situation, whereas De Klerk was successful in wooing the international community. In the later stages of transition, the ANC developed a greater sense of direction and substance in foreign relations, although there were differences of opinion among and between the leadership and the rank and file. Already in 1994 there was evidence of tension between idealism and pragmatism. Post-apartheid foreign policy under Mandela was riddled with inconsistencies, which stemmed from the events of South Africa's transition [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is an extended version of Philip Murphy's inaugural lecture as director of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, delivered on 23 February 2011. It traces the relationship of the UK with the wider Commonwealth over 40 years, paying particular attention to the rhetoric of governments and opposition parties from Wilson and Heath to Cameron. It examines the reasons for the Commonwealth being relegated to a peripheral role in British foreign policy, especially European preoccupations and the issues of Rhodesia and South Africa. It argues that the Commonwealth remains of considerable practical and enormous symbolic importance to the UK. The British government should engage with the Commonwealth more than it has done in the recent past and the Commonwealth should be both open to and critical of its imperial past. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses the consequences of Washington Consensus and more recently post-Washington Consensus policy for democratic good governance in Africa. It acknowledges the increased focus in recent years of policy-makers on poverty as an important force in world politics. Despite this increased concern the authors argue that International Relations as a discipline fails to offer a suitable framework for understanding poverty as a social force. The article proposes a revival of Robert W. Cox and Jeffrey Harrod's approach based on 'patterns of social relations of production'. This offers a disaggregation of the condition that is often referred to in the literature as 'the poor' or 'the informal sector'. The article then outlines a comparative research agenda based on the cases of Tunisia and South Africa. It demonstrates how these cases provide the sternest test for assessing the authors' scepticism of the prospects of reconciling market-led development with good governance, whilst also offering a 'most-different' comparison given their very different political cultures. In conclusion, the article reflects on the methodological aspects to operationalising such a research agenda and proposes an ethnographic approach informed by the work of Burawoy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fifty years after the death of Jan Smuts, Prime Minister of South Africa and for the last two years of his life Chancellor of Cambridge University, Commonwealth studies in general and history in particular is thriving in the university. The Smuts Memorial Fund for Commonwealth Studies, inaugurated in 1952, has been the backbone of the university's activities through its support for a broad range of activities. But it is accepted that despite his qualities and achievements he did nothing to promote the political advancement of the majority population in South Africa. Equally, he was seen by the Afrikaners as compromised in his relationship with the colonial power, while in 1948 the South African white electorate rejected him, much to the surprise of the British governing elite and the African National Congress. The author examines the contradictions in Smuts's character before examining British policy towards South Africa in the years after 1948. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South African diplomacy went through four broad phases in the period from 1990 to early 1999, and their identification is the starting point for an examination of the role of the 'new' South Africa's foreign policy. Earliest signs of a new foreign policy were the negotiated settlement of the Namibian dispute in the late 1980s and the termination of South Africa's nuclear deterrence programme which opened up the prospect of closer collaboration in Africa and admission to global efforts to stem proliferation. The rapid pace of change meant that, by the time the Government of National Unity assumed power in 1994, some of the African National Council's foreign policy and diplomatic initiatives have been overtaken. After 1994 the priority shifted to Africa, the southern hemisphere and the Non-Aligned Movement, and to universal moral and humanitarian issues. The author reviews the consistency of policy in subsequent years, South African initiatives on Nigeria, Libya and Lesotho, and the adoption of a new set of priorities in the early part of 1999. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Former South African president Nelson Mandela was consistently used as a tool of the Pretoria government's foreign relations. Despite Mandela's moral stature there are limits to the portrayal of South Africa as something special, rather than just another country. There have been failures as well as successes and a pursuit of issues that secure international respectability rather than embody the ethos of the Rainbow Nation. The authors contrast how water or housing policies in South Africa are discussed in the context of their effect on the poor while foreign policy is divorced from such popular considerations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Domestic policies rather than foreign affairs dominated the June 1999 elections in South Africa but internal relations will have a direct bearing on the ability of the new government of Thabo Mbeki to deliver its electoral pledges. The priority of the second post-apartheid administration will be to foster a dynamic economy to provide jobs, welfare, security and sustainable development for its entire people. But South Africa is dependent on and vulnerable to the vagaries of global economic relations. The author traces the evolution of the African National Congress's international stance from its founding in 1912 to the 1994 elections and examines the foreign policy positions open to the Mbeki administration. He suggests that while South Africa will remain a symbol of the Third World struggle for liberation, human rights and global economic justice, Mbeki will be in a better position to determine policies by rational assessment than his distinguished predecessor. Mbeki's African Renaissance can be seen as a grand design to re-invent South Africa as a global trading state with strong regional and continental interests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses Malaysia's opposition to apartheid from 1960 to 1990 and the change in Malaysia's attitude towards South Africa. South Africa's significance in Africa; Background on Malaysia's opposition to apartheid; South Africa's withdrawal from the Commonwealth; Dr. Mahathir Mohamad's role in ending apartheid policies in South Africa; Post-apartheid relationship of the two countries.

Reviews the relationship between South Africa and the international community and to assess the varieties of interventionist strategies on offer as well as their possible consequences on the creation of polity. Focus of the study on the period following the release of political leader Nelson Mandela; Rapid changes in the dynamics of international politics affecting the country.

Presents a progress report on key aspects of the post-independence relationship between Namibia and South Africa as of July 1992. Question on Namibia's ability to function as an independent state; Assessment of the future significance of the bilateral tie in the overall context of regional security, development and cooperation; Dispute concerning the boundaries of the Orange River in South Africa.