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Notwithstanding its level of socio-economic development, health failure is a threat to any country. Globally, the Covid-19 pandemic is believed to be the greatest threat to the existentiality of humanity since the end of World War II. The level of global interconnectivity also made it the most destructive to human existence. The accelerating growth of the pandemic in South Africa has devastated effects on its economy and cuttingly intensified prior socio-economic challenges and inadvertently, presented South Africa with an unseen and formidable enemy that does not know the differences between South African Black, Coloured, Indian or White. The study used a qualitative research approach, underpinned by the rationality for South Africa, to embrace innovative diplomacy as a means to an end for its health safety and security amidst the Covid-19 pandemic. The paper argued that South Africa must innovatively engage the acceptable global mechanisms and other health security measures with focus on its commitment to the goals of its national interests, while strengthening the efficiency of its health initiatives through better-quality governance where both local and international investors are allowed to participate actively in state socio-economic activities that respond to the safety and health security of the emotionalized publics. Thus, in a globalised system of innovation, South Africa needs to see the innovation environment as a steady pipeline of its domestic ability to control the negative effect of Covid-19 on its national health security. The paper concludes that South Africa must begin to invest, modify, and localise the biotechnology industry, and thus serving as a source of employment for the teaming unemployed South Africans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing evidence from existing archives, parliamentary proceedings, presidential speeches, newspaper reports and oral testimonies, this paper demonstrates the extent to which Malawi sustained diplomatic relations with Taiwan and China from 1961 to 2014, within the broader context of southern Africa. While trade dictated the diplomatic choice of the so-called 'two Chinas', individual leadership styles as well as domestic politics remained the decisive factors. However, the paper argues that the process was dynamic, complex and highly contested – and that the broader idiographic context of southern Africa mattered. For while local circumstances created the need for diplomatic relations, it was the international political economy that acted as the impetus behind the establishment and shifting sustenance of the relationships. In making this argument, the study draws attention to how global forces interacted historically with local political economies within southern Africa to shape discourses of diplomacy as well as how economic challenges forced states to make compromises – including undermining human rights – in the making of these diplomatic relations over the last two generations in post-independence Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic had left heart-wrenching impacts on all facets of life in general and the availability, accessibility, and affordability of medicines and vaccines in particular. Rather, the world has been divided into two groups regarding access to medicine and vaccines as haves and have-nots. The rich countries had pre-ordered the vaccines of COVID-19 along with the holding of the same. The pandemic situation was further worsened, given the Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) in practice and restrictions on sharing technology of vaccines, medicines, and life-saving equipment. In this context, India and South Africa have proposed the joint proposal and garnered support for waiving off TRIPS to ensure equity, accessibility, and affordability of vaccines and the same as public goods. In this review, we emphasize that global justice is one of the important elements of normative international theories, which focus on all the moral obligations from the world's rich to the world's poor. The paper also questions and argues that if the rich countries fail to go by the principles of global justice, can the Indian and South African (SA) patent diplomacy play a catalyst role in global justice? The review concludes with an emphasis on global solidarity, and the acceptance of joint India–South Africa's "patent diplomacy" for TRIPS waiver would result in mass production and fair distribution, making the COVID-19 medicines and technologies available to everyone regardless of their poor–rich status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the extent to which South Africa utilises positive economic statecraft to promote human rights in the region – that is, the degree to which it mobilises its economic engagement to affect a desirable political outcome in its foreign engagements in Southern Africa. The country's reaction to crises in Zimbabwe and Swaziland over the past 20 years is a strong indicator of the limits of South Africa's statecraft in this regard. These engagements highlight the inevitable clash between the country's principled preference for ‘non-interference’ in the affairs of sovereign states and its constitutional mandate to respect and promote human rights. Despite eschewing the role of ‘regional hegemon’, there is an expectation that South Africa will play an integral role in securing regional stability. Yet there is little evidence to suggest that the country chooses to approach resolving regional challenges with a co-ordinated political and economic approach. This paper argues that, to be more effective in spreading a progressive regional agenda that encourages democracy, governance and human rights, South Africa needs to incorporate a stronger element of positive economic statecraft in its foreign policy implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper compares the Ramaphosa's foreign policy with that adopted by the Mandela, Mbeki and Zuma governments. Based on primary and secondary sources and taking into account that the Ramaphosa administration is in progress, it seeks to demonstrate that the international and regional insertion processes that are being carried out bring as a main characteristic the attempt to strengthen the interaction between foreign policy and development economic, in the same way as the Mbeki and Zuma governments. Having done so, it seeks to demonstrate that the current foreign policy maintains universality in foreign policy, multilateralism and economic diplomacy as characteristics, which were already present in previous administrations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global health diplomacy has gained significant importance and undoubtedly remained high on the agendas of many nations, regional and global platforms amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Many countries have realized the importance of the health sector and the value of a healthy workforce. However, there is little control on issues related to trade that impact on human health due to the dominance of profit-oriented business lobbies. A balance, however, needs to be struck between economic profits and a healthy global population. This paper aimed to highlight the importance of building capacity in global health diplomacy, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic so that health personnel may effectively negotiate on the multisectoral stage to secure the resources they need. The recent proposal to waive off certain provisions of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement for the prevention, containment and treatment of COVID-19 by India and South Africa at the World Trade Organization (WTO) presents an important opportunity for all governments to unite and stand up for public health, global solidarity, and equitable access at the international level so that both developed and developing nations may enjoy improved health outcomes related to the COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ubuntu is an African philosophical worldview that has increasingly gained prominence since South Africa's democratic transition in 1994. It places emphasis on the world's common humanity and its consequent interdependence. Through content analysis, the article examines the soft power that is inherent in South Africa's foreign policy, as codified in the 2011 White Paper on South African Foreign Policy–Building a Better World: Diplomacy of Ubuntu. In its findings, the article established a distinction between Joseph Nye's original conceptualization of soft power, formulated from a United States realist foreign policy perspective, and the one inherent in South Africa's humanist foreign policy guided by the philosophy of Ubuntu. This distinction is premised on the geopolitical disparities between the two nations. The article further examines South Africa's wielding of soft power within the African continent, the first audience of the country's diplomacy of Ubuntu. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As questions concerning international development climb the international agenda, so countries find themselves drawn into a burgeoning number of negotiations on issues ranging from the future shape and direction of the post-2015 development agenda to ‘aid effectiveness’ and international development cooperation. Moving from the position of a ‘beneficiary’ state in the traditional donor–recipient aid hierarchy, South Africa is looking to define its own niche within the wider development diplomacy context as a development partner. This paper provides an assessment of South Africa's evolving approach towards international development cooperation, with a particular focus on trilateral development cooperation, and what this means for Pretoria's foreign policy in bridging the divide between developed and developing country positions within the international development regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With South Africa having declared itself a developmental state, this paper posits that if a developmental state is one that drives development, then the foreign policy of such a state should pursue development as one of its most important goals. Similarly the diplomatic corps of such a state should prioritise economic, commercial, para- and public diplomacy as drivers of diplomacy. In answering the question, ‘What should be the foreign policy and diplomatic attributes of a developmental state?’, the authors, through an exploratory approach, seek to analyse how well the state has fared in achieving this objective. To be a successful developmental state, a strategic capacity should exist and a clear strategic conception of the state's national interest should be formulated. Old paradigms about the role and functions of the diplomatic corps are challenged and a meritocratic diplomatic corps is strongly advocated to support the state's declared developmental goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Engagements between sending states and their diasporas have come under increasing critical scrutiny. Whilst political geographers have driven critical analysis of national level policies, debates have largely overlooked the broader range of actors, transactions and practices involved in implementing national policies in a geohistorically diverse array of diasporic contexts and settings. Over the last decade, the Indian government has invested significant resources in overseas diplomatic missions, consulates and high commissions to administer its diaspora outreach strategies. This paper examines the role of the Consulate General of India (CGI) in Durban, South Africa, focusing in particular on the networks of agents, associations, groups and political actors involved in collaborating with the CGI Durban in diaspora outreach practices. This paper draws on two periods of fieldwork in Durban between 2004 and 2005 and was supplemented by ongoing visual and textual analysis of news articles, promotional material, reports and websites. Using the concept of articulation, the paper highlights the discursive and performative practices involved in bringing together the agendas of the GOI with those of South African Indian diaspora associations through the outreach practices of the CGI in Durban. It argues that articulatory practices are essential to resolving some of the subjective and embodied dilemmas and contestations of belonging inherent in South African Indians’ participation in diaspora outreach initiatives. Investigating how articulation contributes to drawing diverse and even competing agendas together makes room for further understanding the ways in which diaspora outreach practices can travel across a wide network, and the diverse agencies that can become catalysed in the process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the extent to which South Africa's policy towards Zimbabwe under the Mbeki administration was shaped by economic and commercial considerations. Given the extensive involvement and growing influence of the South African business sector in Zimbabwe, the potential link between the South African government's policy stance towards Zimbabwe and South Africa's commercial interests in Zimbabwe is intuitively appealing. This paper argues, however, that although South African firms have exploited the commercial opportunities that have emerged from the political and economic crises in Zimbabwe, it is not clear from the available evidence if commercial interests have been a primary consideration in South Africa's policy towards Zimbabwe. It concludes that the Mbeki government's policy of 'quiet diplomacy' towards Zimbabwe was not principally shaped by economic objectives, but was instead driven predominantly by political and ideological concerns, which related closely to perceptions about South Africa's role on the African continent. [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]

Copyright of Opinião Pública is the property of Universidade Estadual de Campinas - Portal de Periodicos Eletronicos Cientificos and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article examines the role of sub-state diplomacy, defined as the transnational linkages of sub-national governments, in bridging the gap between foreign policy and the domestic development agenda in South Africa. It argues that, as territorial sub-state actors, provinces and municipalities are strategically positioned to use their international relations to make foreign policy more responsive to domestic socio-economic priorities. In the South African case, however, this potential is yet to be fully realised, mainly because of institutional fragmentation of the foreign policy apparatus, but also owing to enduring challenges in the foreign activities of sub-national governments. The article concludes by making the case for a new diplomatic paradigm in South Africa, one that actively promotes and harnesses the foreign activities and capacities of different national stakeholders, including those of sub-national governments, in the interest of the domestic development agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Africa is witnessing a recurring wave of xenophobic attacks despite being built on the foundations of humanity and oneness. Despite being situated at various sub-region in Africa, Nigeria and South Africa are both regarded as regional hegemons, and as regional hegemons, they tussle for international recognition as exemplified in occasional diplomatic confrontations. Relations between Abuja and Pretoria have been marked by several stages with their political, economic and sociocultural interaction punctuated by rivalry, conflict, cooperation and competition. This article explores the paradox of xenophobia in South Africa and its impact on strategic relations with Nigeria through the lens of citizen diplomacy. Relying on secondary data, we assess the how Nigerians residing in South Africa can be protected through the instrumentality of citizen diplomacy. From the study, the authors argue that prevalence of xenophobic prejudice and violence on African nationals (including Nigerians) residing in South Africa arises due to limited implementation and utilization of the citizen's diplomacy by the Nigerian government. Therefore, we propose policy prescriptions to enhance the Nigeria-South Africa strategic partnership with an emphasis on the adoption of a cultural mix policy and early warning signals, which are paramount in eliminating xenophobic conflicts in African societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After years of politically imposed isolation, full diplomatic relations between China and South Africa was formalised in January 1998. In the following years the extended contact between China and South Africa was included in the realization of forming the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) group incentive. Grouping together countries that were previously political adversaries often highlights the lack of cultural acceptance and absence of philosophical understanding between nations. It follows that the BRICS relations are reviving common interest in intercultural and international communication systems, processes and communication technologies. With the focus largely on communication capabilities and activities facilitated by new technologies - such as the internet - the area of collaboration in science communication is less pronounced. The intent of science communication is serving a somewhat different requirement than that of journalism but both are necessary in establishing and maintaining global relations. Also; the influence of philosophy and ideology on the theoretical framework of science communication is becoming more prominent; especially within the current 'science and society' paradigm that is central to science communication theory. Africa is lagging behind on all fronts. In this paper a closer look is taken at the complexities that characterised the South African political past that might still have an impact on today's application of science communication and journalism in support of newly forged global relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Parliament of the Republic of South Africa has since 1994 actively participated in multilateral parliamentary diplomacy through inter-parliamentary institutions (IPIs). This article considers parliamentary diplomacy as an instrument of soft power and interrogates the soft power impact of agenda-setting in the context of IPIs. The qualitative analysis of various parliamentary records and other document sources reveals agenda-setting actions by Parliament that can be understood as instruments of soft power that hold positive implications for the state. Challenges to potential soft power gains were also identified. The research was enriched with primary perspectives from interviewed parliamentary members and officials who have consistently served as South African delegates to IPIs. The study provides insights for members of parliament and other policymakers on the merits and modalities of employing agenda-setting within multilateral parliamentary diplomacy as a soft power tool of the state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The current dominant account of aid to education focuses on schooling and official development assistance and talks in terms of policy work, donor harmonisation and, increasingly, budgetary support. However, this approach is limited in a number of ways. The return of international policy interest in vocational education provides an opportunity to take a look at whether the dominant paradigm is really a solution in all cases. Through an exploration of the evolution of the South African further education and training, this paper illustrates the importance of looking at where a country wants and does not want to learn from. It points to the need to gaze beyond official development assistance to examine the way that dimensions such as cultural diplomacy, commercial interests and solidarity play a role in policy learning. It also draws attention to the often-varied national institutional resources for learning and the complex interplay of individuals, both local and foreign, in the learning process. Finally, it hints that many apparently minor instruments such as exile, study abroad and structured exchange visits may contribute to a far more complex web of policy-related learning than is captured in conventional accounts of policy borrowing/learning that focus on the official level. It may be that a more meaningful discussion of the effectiveness of international cooperation, rather than the more narrow notion of aid, would ensue if such perspectives were taken on board. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article explores how the inequality matter of equal and fair distribution about how availability and accessibility to vaccines can be translated into actual shots in arms. Topics include response to health crises, with the Global South increasingly stepping in to address resource inequities; and traditional inactivated vaccines with no burdensome requirement for transportation and delivery; and health diplomacy, intended for strengthening international relations through collective actions on health issues.

During World War II, Baron Otto von Strahl, a German career diplomat and trader, became one of South Africa's most important intelligence assets in the fight against Nazi infiltration. But he died indigent, an immigrant to the United States of America, because the German post-war authorities refused to recognise him as a Nazi opponent. Many decades after his death historians have begun to praise him as a resistance fighter, though ignoring certain ambiguities in his activities in South Africa. Von Strahl had denounced fellow Germans as dangerous Nazis without any tangible evidence, bringing about their internment by the South African authorities. Based on archival research in South Africa, Namibia, and Germany, this article exposes a paradox in von Strahl's activities for South Africa: as an undoubted expert of South Africa's infiltration by Nazi envoys and their propaganda, he focused on the German population, which constituted a relatively minor threat to the country's stability, but he ignored the menace coming from pro-Nazi radical Afrikaner movements. His role has been exaggerated by those who accused him of treason during and after the war in Germany, whilst both his accusers and post-war defenders neglected his pro-Jewish attitude as the main motivation for switching sides in 1939. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay considers the phenomenon of British local authorities mobilizing to oppose the policies of apartheid in post-war South Africa. Activities include boycott, divestment, twinning agreements, media campaigns, and re-naming/memorialization. The activity is placed in the context of a transnational anti-apartheid network overseen by the United Nations organization. The campaign is shown to be inversely related the level of national government activity and especially associated with opposition to Margaret Thatcher and her government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How does South Africa view international alliances? International relations (IR) scholars have been debating the end of alliances and the relevance of the alliance paradigm itself. South Africa presents an excellent test case for advancing these debates for three reasons. First, it has been committed to nonalignment yet engages in close and complex inter-state collaborations. Second, debates about the alliance paradigm have largely taken place in, and focused on, the Global North. And third, there is a gap in South African scholarship on this subject. This article examines the South African understanding of alliances through a systematic study of its academic and policy landscape including an analysis of 285 articles from South Africa's five most highly ranked IR journals and key policy documents produced during the post-apartheid period. The article outlines how alliances are conceptualized and operationalized. It finds that the alliance concept in South Africa departs from the traditional understanding in the Global North: alliances are often driven by mutually shared political and developmental objectives rather than an external security threat. These objectives, combined with a perception of new economic opportunities, have led to an increase in the importance of South Africa's strategic partnerships with rising powers, and reinforced its multi-alignment diplomacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In conflicts between a state and a non-state actor, such as a paramilitary or terrorist organization, when no official diplomatic relations and recognition exists, there is a need for actors who can serve as a "diplomatic avant-garde." This article identifies a diplomatic pattern in which breakthroughs occur through cooperative work between two types of actors: unofficial citizen diplomats and key figures in intelligence bodies. Each actor brings specific resources: unofficial actors have contacts with the non-state actor, while intelligence officers can offer backing from within the official system of the state. The article analyzes the topic using three case studies: Brendan Duddy and the MI6 officer Michael Oatley (UK and the Provisional IRA, 1975–1993); Willie Esterhuyse and the head of the South African National Intelligence Service, Neil Barnard (South African government and the ANC, 1987– 1990); and Gershon Baskin and the Mossad official David Meidan (Israel and Hamas, 2011). This study examines the unique relations between these two types of actors and how their collaboration promoted negotiations with non-state armed actors. It analyzes three stages: establishment of contact between these actors, persuasion of the relevant parties, and the breakthrough moment when talks shifted to an official back channel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: How are Development Assistance Committee (DAC) donors evolving their financial flows and aid modalities in response to the growing influence and economic power of Southern BRICS? After presenting the shifting landscape of international development cooperation, we explore five hypotheses about the changing nature of DAC aid allocation patterns and modalities in BRICS countries. In our conclusion, we reflect on the evolution of DAC engagement in Brazil, China, India, and South Africa (BASIC countries) and what it might mean for all official donors. Our assessment is that the changing geopolitical environment for development cooperation is once again privileging economic diplomacy concerns within DAC donors, propelling specific kinds of decisions about the choice of instruments, sectors, and modalities in BASIC countries. It would appear that the administrative practice of foreign aid is increasingly derived from changes within the institutional environment for international development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1995, South Africa was in a special position. It was: a new party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), the first country to voluntarily renounce nuclear weapons, led by a charismatic leader, and seen as a champion of disarmament principles. Yet South Africa's new leaders were also interested in affirming their position within the Non-Aligned Movement, which was adamantly opposed to the NPT's indefinite extension. Why, then, did South Africa decide to support the indefinite extension of the NPT in 1995? Existing scholarship has ascribed too much credit to pressure from the United States, overlooking domestic debates in South Africa and the bifurcation between professional diplomats and political elites. This article, building on new archival sources and in-depth oral-history interviews with major actors, demonstrates that South African diplomats opposed indefinite extension while South African policy elites allocated little attention to the topic until late in the game. The findings contribute to our understanding of South Africa's norm entrepreneurship, as well as the politics of global nonproliferation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The behavioural model comprises a major theoretical tradition in the field of middle powers since it identifies the distinct behavioural patterns in the diplomacy of these states. Its relevance, however, has been questioned since it continues to rely on older definitions of middle power behaviour and places emphasis on diplomatic preferences rather than influence. To strengthen the relevance of the behavioural model, this article proposes an additional distinctive category that prioritises ideational influence and entrepreneurial effectiveness as key prerequisites for identifying middle powers. The article examines the cases of Brazil and South Africa to argue that states classified as middle powers must not only pursue the diplomatic preferences and strategies that comprise middle power internationalism, but also display the capacity to advance and secure their preferred outcomes at the international level. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

South Africa’s foreign policy has recently been gravitating away from an appeal to Western powers towards the establishment of new friendships in the Global South, especially with Asia and Latin America. Moreover, the favouring of the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) partnership and a rising tone of anti-Western sentiments have increasingly been evidenced in South Africa’s contemporary foreign policy, which are of major significance to the nature and direction of its economic-diplomatic strategy. Three broad perspectives or main arguments from this article are of special importance: First, most members of BRICS are troubled by slower economic growth, which should be of concern to South Africa’s current foreign policy stand. Second, anti-Western ideological concerns and related presumptions on the part of the South African government that the BRICS formation could potentially assume a counter-hegemonic character vis-à-vis the West are questionable and dubious. Third, South Africa stands to benefit from many networks and opportunities provided by BRICS membership. At the same time, because of its low economic growth, high levels of poverty and lack of employment opportunities, South Africa cannot afford to follow an approach of narrow interest concerning the BRICS formation and to constrain itself in its economic diplomacy. This article argues that the South African government will therefore have to consider the opportunities offered by a more nuanced and pragmatic foreign policy designed on multiple identities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Between 1968 and 1975, the leaders of white South Africa reached out to independent African leaders. Scholars have alternately seen these counterintuitive campaigns as driven by a quest for regional economic hegemony, divide-and-rule realpolitik, or a desire to ingratiate the regime with the West. This article instead argues that the South African government's outreach was intended to energise a top-down recalibration of the ideology of Afrikaner nationalism, as the regime endeavoured to detach its apartheid programme from notions of colonialist racial supremacy, and instead reach across the colour line and lay an equal claim to the power and protection of African nationalism. These diplomatic manoeuvrings, therefore, serve as a prism through which to understand important shifts in state identity, ideological renewal, and the adoption of new state-building models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Just as apartheid was ending, South Africa’s foreign relations witnessed a massive expansion. However, the Department of Foreign Affairs that was to manage this change found itself undergoing institutional transformations of both personnel and ideology. Studies on South African foreign policy have mostly neglected this transformation, which has had a considerable influence on the content and direction of South African foreign policy. In discussing this seldom-studied issue, this analysis unearths the discussions and debates that took place between various stakeholders to bring about transformation in the Department. In doing so, it argues that two different cultures of diplomacy came together in forming the new Department of Foreign Affairs. These cultures have had a significant impact on the thrust and direction of post-apartheid South Africa foreign policy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Framed by the 5th BRICS Summit in South Africa in March 2013, this analysis examines economic ‘South-South’ linkages on a company level. A qualitative case study focuses on a small number of private corporations operating in the South African mining and minerals sector. It looks at their reactions to increasingly competitive markets in the regions of Southern and West Africa, thus on their agency, defined as the ability to act in complex uncertainty. Findings present how the South African cases' engagements with strategically selected partner companies from the other BRICS economies can succeed. This contribution attempts to examine entrepreneurial rationale that can be taken as anecdotal evidence of a new ‘economic diplomacy’ at corporate level. The examples illustrate how agency enables certain adaptations of strategies for creating competitive synergies from collaboration with new actors from the other BRICS economies in Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Thabo Mbeki's presidency was credited with bringing vision and substance to South Africa's foreign policy through the emphasis of the African agenda. He has continued his prominent diplomatic role since the end of his official terms in office. This article examines the post-presidency of Mbeki in the context of Africa's ‘second-wave’ of democracy, which has created the opportunity for a number of former presidents and prime ministers to continue to play a meaningful role in public life after leaving office. The article also examines Mbeki's activities since leaving office, and their interaction with South African foreign policy, and with his own role in the governing ANC since being recalled from the Presidency by the party. The conclusion draws together the findings and considers Mbeki's lasting contribution to Africa's international relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article begins by recognizing the importance of sport in South African history, before turning to South Africa's vision and strategy, as articulated around and beyond the successful hosting of mega-events, particularly the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the first World Cup to be held on the African continent. The article suggests that mega-events are an important stage and priority of a broader and longer-term strategy of enhancing South Africa's soft power, prestige and visibility. In this context, sport and mega-events are important foreign policy tools and have greatly benefited South Africa, the African continent and the international relations system. Using South Africa as a case study, this article explores the concept of sports diplomacy --- that is, the use of sports as an instrument for furthering foreign policy goals, causes or interests -- and argues that it is a significant and a rising source of soft power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Historia is the property of Historical Association of South Africa and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article examines the dilemma facing Tambo in one of the most testing of times for the ANC. It explores the context and events that led to human rights abuses in the MK camps during the early 1980s in the face of serious and sustained attacks by the apartheid government. Some commentators have questioned the nature of Tambo's response to this dark side of the ANC in exile. Based on extensive interviews over a number of years as well as an evaluation of the recent sequence of largely biographical literature on exile, the article examines the dilemma of reconciling the ANC's commitment to human rights, with the increasingly mutinous behaviour of a number of MK soldiers in the Angolan camps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Middle Powers are generally understood to perform diplomatic functions of constructive engagement and consensus-building to facilitate agreement in international negotiations. Middle Powers may, however, adopt more confrontational roles, especially when their accommodative functions become deficient. Whilst theoretical perspectives on Middle Powers account for such roles, limited empirical evidence has been provided to explore the conditions under which they revert to combative diplomacy. This article contributes to this area by examining the role of South Africa in the 2003 Cancun Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organisation. During this period, South Africa shifted to a more confrontational approach epitomised by the heightening of its public diplomacy against developed countries and its co-leadership of the G-20 coalition of developing countries. The Cancun Ministerial collapse reflected both the possibilities and limitations of combative diplomacy as South Africa enhanced its international prestige but failed to extract any meaningful concessions, whilst triggering the threat of diplomatic retaliation by the major trading powers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global environmental politics is emerging as a key field for South African diplomacy and foreign policy, in which Pretoria is endeavouring to lead by example. Environmental summits and conferences such as Johannesburg (2002) and Copenhagen (2009) have been crucial stages for the performance of this role as an environmental leader, and in December 2011 Durban will host the seventeenth Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. There are also signs from within policy-making circles that ‘the environment’ is seen as a field in which some of the lustre of South Africa’s post-1994 international high moral standing could be recovered. However, tensions remain between South Africa’s performance and rhetoric on the global stage, and domestic development paths which continue to be environmentally unsustainable. The article concludes by suggesting that while the visibility and prominence of South Africa as an actor in global environmental politics is likely to grow, it remains doubtful whether this represents a sustained and committed new direction in South African foreign policy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The emerging global order is challenging multilateralism in the sense that power is becoming situational: centres of gravity are overlapping and transient, and the transnational interdependence that characterises this 'polypolar' world challenges small and great powers alike. Emerging powers are forming a 'new middle', straddling the North-South divide with dynamic new multilateral formations, and prioritising economic self-interest. South Africa is at risk of being relegated to a new global periphery if it gives priority to political solidarity with the global South rather than economic pragmatism in its multilateral strategies. Its comparative advantage in the diplomatic arena is its middle power credentials. If it rationalizes its multilateralism to focus on diplomatic niche areas it can enhance its political influence in global governance institutions, despite its small economic stature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article assesses the prospects for a clearly articulated economic diplomacy approach in South Africa's foreign policy. It argues that while South Africa's foreign policy has been to a considerable extent normatively grounded, it has failed to develop a coherent economic diplomacy that is based on focused and distinctly expressed priorities. This is a crucial gap that limits the country's ability to respond to regional and global changes, in particular those posed by emerging powers. The article identifies a number of gaps in South Africa's foreign policy approach and highlights its oblivion to global developments and geopolitical dynamics in the African continent. It sets out possible policy outlines for developing a clearer and stronger economic diplomacy. The building blocks for such an approach include the identification of strategic foreign policy priorities; greater institutional co-operation among agencies dealing with economic and foreign policy development; synergies between corporate strategies and government's foreign policy objectives; and the need for South Africa to develop a stronger leadership ambition in the African continent, both to contribute to Africa's development and to pursue its own economic interests. This ambition will require awareness of South Africa's own limitations, thus focusing the better part of its foreign policy on a limited set of countries that match strategic priorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Africa is planning to create a development assistance agency at a time of growing consensus that traditional aid practices need fundamental change. The profusion of bilateral, multilateral and private aid agencies has created an inefficient system that ensnares recipients in a complex web of regulation and time-consuming consultation that distracts the attention of recipient country staff and undermines the ability of developing countries to develop their own priorities. These faults, widely observed since the 1970s, persist because they are reinforced by powerful but perverse incentives operating at the diplomatic, organisational, staff and recipient government levels. Political pressures within donor countries prioritise diplomatic goals over developmental ones and persistently attempt to finesse rather than genuinely resolve conflicting goals. Confronted with a multiplicity of donors, each with its own complex rules, aid-dependent recipient countries frequently surrender planning initiative to donors and find themselves with an incoherent mix of disparate projects. Avoiding the mistakes of traditional donors and ensuring that South Africa becomes part of the solution rather than a new contributor to the problem will require careful attention to the design and management of South Africa's new aid agency. It needs particular attention to well-designed monitoring and evaluation systems, significant in-house research capacity, well-crafted enabling laws, systems to focus aid in a few productive areas, and efforts to identify and confront the perverse incentives that many aid agencies have preferred to ignore. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to consolidate its strategic bilateral relations developed in Africa over the past 14 years, South Africa must choose five key 'hubs' (regional powers) in each of Africa's five sub-regions. In addition, South Africa should pick two additional 'spokes' (influential actors) in each sub-region. These 15 strategic partners can increase South Africa's engagement on the continent in the areas of diplomacy, conflict management, and trade relations. South Africa's bilateral relations would thus resemble a gigantic bicycle, with five hubs and ten spokes. The five hubs are Mozambique, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, and Algeria. The ten spokes would be Zimbabwe, Angola, Burundi, Rwanda, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Sudan, Tanzania, Egypt and Libya. It is around these countries that South Africa can build solid strategic bilateral relationships in Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses two strategies for resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and argues that both strategies must be used simultaneously in order to be effective. The first strategy, the political-elite model, is intended to produce a peace agreement through diplomatic methods. The second, the public-assembly model, requires the use of a public negotiating assembly in order to counteract a socially-conditioned culture of conflict between warring groups. The peacemaking methodology employed in South Africa and Northern Ireland during the 1990s are presented as the basis for the public-assembly model.

This article examines South Africa's role in the United Nations Security Council in 2007-2008. This issue is highlighted as a highpoint in post-apartheid South Africa's diplomacy, which developed from its role of peacemaking and institution building in Africa, as part of the continent's renewal. Faced with the constraints of a hegemonic world and declined global multilateralism, especially after 9/11, South Africa used its moral power to leverage its own sovereignty and that of weaker states. In doing so, it pushed hard for regionalism, devoting its presidential terms in the council in March 2007 and April 2008 to strengthening the linkages between the United Nations (UN) and African Union (AU) structures. However, from the outset South Africa's voting patterns in the council - from Myanmar to Zimbabwe - revealed the palpable tension between the politics of solidarity and sovereignty on the one hand, and human rights on the other. The article traces South Africa's quest for sovereignty to the struggle against apartheid in the UN and regional structures of the erstwhile Organisation of African Unity (OAU). It further examines South Africa's efforts to implement its vision of the world emerging from this legacy after 1994, culminating in the battle for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. Although Pretoria failed to secure a permanent seat, its election to the council as a non-permanent member provided it with the opportunity to implement its vision. While the principled approach to UN diplomacy has expanded the space for its own sovereignty and that of Africa, it has at the same time increased tension with the world's superpower, particularly over the war on terror and Zimbabwe. Recent xenophobic attacks on African migrants in South Africa have, on the other hand, cast some dark clouds on President Thabo Mbeki's acknowledged leading advocacy for the African Renaissance project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the aftermath of 9/11 surely of great significance is the reassertion of the South – North divide as a defining axis of the international system. In this context the emergence of a coterie of Southern countries actively challenging the position and assumptions of the leading states of the North is an especially significant event. The activism on the part of three middle-income developing countries in particular—South Africa, Brazil and India—has resulted in the creation of a ‘trilateralist’ diplomatic partnership, itself a reflection of broader transformations across the developing world in the wake of globalisation. This article will examine the rise of the co-operative strategy known as ‘trilateralism’ by regional leaders within the South. Specifically it will look at the relationship between emerging regional powers in the context of multilateralism, as well as at the formulation and implementation of trilateralism. As with previous co-operative efforts in the developing world, the prospects of success are rooted in overlapping domestic, regional and international influences on South African, Brazilian and Indian foreign policies. The article will conclude with an assessment of these influences over the trilateral agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on attempts of the African National Congress (ANC) of South Africa to secure support of the community of African states and singles out three themes that were dominant in the period under review. Themes of acceptance by the African states, modus operandi of their assistance and their role in the negotiation process.