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In May 2008 South Africans made international headlines by embarking on a hitherto unprecedented campaign of violence against African migrants. This violence formed part of a wider pattern of intolerance and antagonism against African migrants in post-Apartheid South Africa. At the heart of this prejudice lies socio-economic deprivation, whilst the political context within which the attacks took place could explain its timing. Much of the work on South African xenophobia takes a citizenship approach, examining processes of nationhood, or focuses on post-Apartheid immigration policy. This paper contributes to the study of xenophobia in South Africa by analysing it in relation to social capital, which emphasises trust as crucial for social development. This article asks what xenophobia suggests about levels of trust in South Africa and argues that the events of May 2008 exposed the distrust—particularly amongst black Africans—that permeates post-Apartheid society. It starts by charting the recent development and causes of xenophobia in South Africa, its significance for trust and social capital, and finally proposes strategies for increasing trust between groups in the context of xenophobia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper traces the rise of the HIV pandemic in Zimbabwe and also traces the history of official silence about it. The paper argues that women are a particularly vulnerable group, but are often the most deprived of treatment. The spread of the disease within the Zimbabwean diaspora is also described and it is pointed out how British asylum procedures can discourage bearers of the disease from seeking medical opinion and help. The medical profession within Zimbabwe itself is castigated as not having been ready to take a stand against silence and on behalf of patient choice and empowerment, and the Zimbabwean situation is contrasted with those in Uganda and South Africa. The paper makes a passionate call for engagement nationally, professionally and internationally with the Zimbabwe pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Political change in South Africa, following the years of apartheid, was the resultant of many social, political and economic forces, involving many actors, working through many processes. The whole momentous story has inspired an enormous literature, from the autobiographical writings of iconic figures such as Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu, to journalism such as that of Allister Sparks, and of course a plethora of academic books and papers. This paper focuses on one aspect of these historic events: the process whereby, before the arrival of the new government in 1994, diverse groups of people were brought together to review, discuss or develop 'scenarios' of different futures for the governance and socioeconomic development of the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The right to health is enshrined in the South African Constitution as well as a range of international and regional human rights treaties which South Africa accepts. Yet empirical data reveals some of the challenges faced by South African youth--childhood diseases, HIV/AIDS and such like. There are evidently challenges realising the right to health in practice. Nevertheless, South African courts have led the international field in recognising the justiciability of economic and social rights such as the right to health. Having reviewed the applicable laws and jurisprudence, the paper will conclude that a more holistic human rights-based approach offers perhaps the best way forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

Post-apartheid South Africa highlights the potential for a society to increase its media outlets and its media consumption patterns. Politics, economics, social factors and technology are a major factor in this process. The country's broadcast media density has radically improved, largely through non-commercial mechanisms. Print has been more constrained. News websites are holding out, but are weak and being brought back into their parent media platforms. Current economic pressures are likely to force southern African media operations into greater synergies in search of survival. But the overall picture is one of major increases in media density. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents several documents about South Africa and its leaders. Documents from the conclusions of `The Report of the Commonwealth Observer Group to the South Africa Elections, 26-29 April 1994--Chapter 7'; Sunday Times Nobel Laureate Lecture by Executive Deputy President F.W. de Klerk: London, 20 May 1994; State of the Nation Address by President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, House of Parliament, Cape Town, 24 May 1994.

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]

Describes South Africa's April 1994 election in Ndwedwe, KwaZulu Natal. Geographical description of Ndwedwe district; Detailed accounts of the election by foreign observers; Election problems and situations.

The hope that South Africa would be a beacon of media freedom and plurality when apartheid ended with the election of President Nelson Mandela has, sadly, faded. This erosion of media freedom has mirrored the gradual loss of support for the governing party, the ANC. In these circumstances, it is hardly surprising that the media have come in for intense pressure as they fulfilled their obligation to act as the nation’s watchdog. As one commentator observed: ‘The ANC does not like a free and independently owned press with its watchdog capabilities’. Another commentator, the Economic Freedom Fighter’s Member of Parliament Fana Mokoena, asked: ‘The SABC is a microcosm of South Africa when all that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing. How did this happen?’. This article discusses the decline of media freedom in South Africa and explores the causes for the decline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides updates on some members of the Commonwealth as of 2014. Topics discussed include the abduction of nearly 300 schoolgirls from Chibok in Bornostate by the Islamic militants of Boko Haram in Nigeria, the African National Congress's (ANC) victory in the May 7, 2014 elections in South Africa, and issue over bird hunting in Malta.

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]

An opposition party leader and a journalist were murdered in Rwanda in the latest attack on government critics. Thousands of people in Lesotho asked South Africa to annex their country. A judicial inquiry into fake degrees held by Pakistani parliamentarians threatens to trigger fresh elections. Australia and Trinidad and Tobago both elected their first female prime ministers. [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]

Responding to British complaints in 1987 of excessive focus on human rights violations in South Africa, four professional associations launched a massive survey of human rights throughout the Commonwealth. Dismayed by inadequacies in the Harare Declaration, the CHRI became a formal non-governmental institution and published a searching study of rights violations in different contexts ahead of each Commonwealth summit. Its headquarters rotated in 1993 to Delhi from where a worldwide program to increase freedom of information and press for reform of police and prison systems, as the basis for securing other human rights, has made impressive headway. The article also describes its impact on the Commonwealth Secretariat's work and its involvement with the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

May - June 2007: Umaru Yar'Adua becomes president of Nigeria, despite ongoing criticism of the elections; South African president Thabo Mbeki facilitates crisis talks over Zimbabwe and the London High Court finds former Zambian president Frederick Chiluba guilty of stealing £23m. Pakistani militants step up their activities at the Lal Masjid mosque and Gordon Brown becomes prime minister of Britain. Traffic police in Kolkata are given extra oxygen because of severe pollution; New Zealand scientists discover a "skimmed milk" gene in some cows; and a Vanuatu bank decides to recognize traditional currency, including pig tusks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The climax of the long evolution towards regional security in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) occurred at the organization's August 2003 Summit with the signing of the community's Mutual Defence Pact, a process that had commenced in 1996 following the creation of the SADC organ. All states in the sub-region desired defence cooperation but the process has been fraught with difficulties, as several draft versions of the mutual defence pact illustrate. The final document, while still projecting the language of cooperation, suggests a degree of hesitancy by some member states, as demonstrated in Article 6 of the pact. It may nevertheless be deduced that the sub-region, through this defence pact and its close relationship with the African Union, has most certainly exhibited some of the traits of a true security community. [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]

Alfred Milner, British High Commissioner in South Africa from 1897 to 1905, was a convinced imperialist who saw his charge as the weakest link in the imperial chain and Afrikanerdom as an obstacle he was determined to crush. Respected by the leaders of both British political parties, he initially kept to his brief of exercising caution, but in two years the Bloemfontein Conference on the future of the Transvaal had failed and war between Britain and the two Afrikaner states broke out. The article examines Milner's stance during the peace talks and his disappointment at an outcome he regarded as a missed opportunity, and his relationship with Jan Smuts, later to become Prime Minister of South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Charter of the United Nations, adopted in San Francisco in 1945, marked a new approach to international relations - a break with the concept of balance of power and the beginning of a new era of global interdependence. Despite the tensions of the Cold War, the UN Charter has retained its authority among the founder nations and the 100 plus countries that have joined. Its essence is embodied in the 200 words of the Preamble, which was incorporated largely due to the efforts of Jan Smuts, a former Prime Minister of South Africa and a pioneer of the concept of Commonwealth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In their Fancourt Declaration, the Commonwealth heads of government confirmed and expanded the mature approach to globalization they had launched at Edinburgh two years before. They recognized the opportunities created for growth and prosperity, but also that the benefits were not shared equally and the poor were being marginalized. Before Durban, the Commonwealth had focused on one factor hold back poor countries-the burden of external debt. A series of Commonwealth initiatives had stimulated programmes endorsed by the G7/G8 summits - most recently at Cologne in June 1999 - and by the IMF and World Bank. The Durban CHOGM kept up the pressure for progress in helping poor countries. Durban also gave unusual attention to international trade, stimulated by the imminent WTO Ministerial at Seattle. The Fancourt Declaration called for a new WTO round with a strong developmental focus, while warning that labour standards and environmental protection should not be linked to trade liberalization. In the event, the Seattle meeting failed. The rich nations offered too little to the developing countries and asked too much, especially on labour standards. The procedures left many small countries feeling excluded. This is a setback for the WTO, but need not be a fatal blow. It gives an opportunity to the Commonwealth to press its views further and could justify holding a meeting of Commonwealth trade ministers, to which the Durban communique refers. [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.

Describes South Africa's April 1994 election in Pretoria-Witwatersrand-Vereeniging (PWV) particularly in the Vaal Triangle. Demography of PWV; Observation of election in the Vaal Triangle; Role of Commonwealth Observer Group; Problems in the PWV region; Significance of the PWV area in the future of South Africa.

Describes South Africa's April 1994 elections from the Eastern Transvaal, one of the newly designated provinces. Objective of the observer missions from participating organizations; Role of the United Nations Observer Mission (UNOMSA); UN observer's experiences and analysis of election.

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.

Explores the Gleneagles Agreement, a statement of the Commonwealth of Nations on the apartheid in sports in South Africa. Use of sports as a political weapon; Phases of development of the agreement; Purpose of the agreement; Impact of the Gleneagles Agreement on South Africa; Place to which the agreement is relegated within the workings of the Commonwealth.