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The paper examines the higher education system in South Africa today and relates it to principles for imposing an academic boycott. It criticizes the defending of a collaboration with South African science and urges South African scientists to reconstruct an ethically legitimate "societal contract" with the majority of the South African population. (Author/DB)

Dubbed as the beginning of the "new dawn," the year 2018 has served as a watershed moment in terms of South Africa's domestic and international affairs. The basis for this narrative is the fact that in February 2018, Cyril Ramaphosa succeeded Jacob Zuma as the President of South Africa. Among others, this change of guard in South Africa's presidency has ushered an emerging narrative about South Africa's future engagement with Russia in the context of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) grouping. Unlike former President Zuma who was seemingly inclined towards the East, President Ramaphosa has been linked by observers to the West. It is on this basis that, this paper attempts to address the following central question: Does the Ramaphosa presidency represent a catalyst for change or continuity in terms of South Africa engagement with Russia in the context of BRICS? As a way of departing from the dominant tradition in International Relations of either locating studies of this nature within the realist or liberal perspective, the authors of this paper proposes a holistic approach which is based on the theory of Afrocentricity (also read as a Diopan perspective) and interdisciplinary critical discourse analysis in its broadest form. In this context, this paper establishes an argument that it is not "business as usual" insofar as South Africa's present engagement with Russia is concerned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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.

This article discusses the peculiar features of South Africa's foreign policy, which became the fifth member of BRICS in 2011. The decision for South Africa's accession to BRICS was based on the principles of the country's foreign policy; facilitating the establishment of a multipolar, just, and equitable world order, striving for the development and prosperity of Africa. The focus is on the notion of Ubuntu and the formation of foreign policy in South Africa since the 90s of the 20th century. Ubuntu is one of the basic philosophical concepts and organizational principles of the Bantu-speaking people of Africa. After the fall of the apartheid regime in South Africa and the democratic transformation undertaken in 1994, the philosophy of Ubuntu was adopted by the leaders of the country and became an instrument regulating public life, became a regular fixture of domestic public policy as well as firmly entrenching itself as one of the key principles of foreign policy. The purpose of this paper is to determine when the philosophy of Ubuntu became part of the political landscape of South Africa, to establish the degree of this concept's influence on the external and internal political rhetoric, and to determine the tools for the dissemination of Ubuntu by the government of South Africa. The scientific novelty consists in a comprehensive analysis of state documents and their study with reference to content on the Ubuntu concept. Earlier, such an analysis has not been introduced into the scientific study of our country. The conclusions reached by the author assert a high degree of integration of the concept of Ubuntu in the strategic course of the South Africa's policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines, in the light of political reforms in South Africa, the prime concerns of geographers. Discusses the future of the Bantustans; questions of land redistribution, tenure systems, production levels, and support systems; spatial economic policies; land and housing; and regional relations. Argues that, to realize its potential, southern Africa will require substantial external aid. (SG)

People with substance use disorders require comprehensive treatment, including planned aftercare, for improved treatment outcomes. However, access to treatment and aftercare is limited globally, as in South Africa, under-girded by a paucity of empirical research on substance use aftercare and reintegration policies. When examining South African substance use aftercare and reintegration policies, the complex local and international contexts require scrutiny. The aim of this paper is to establish the aftercare content in South African policies and to explore how these local policies respond to the national and international context. The Policy Analysis Triangle proposed by Walt and Gilson, Beer's Viable Systems Model and Thematic Analysis guided the analysis of eight selected policies. The analysis demonstrated that South African policies have undergone changes over the past years: from having no aftercare content to a minimal allowance for aftercare in policies. Policies embrace an acute treatment approach similar to the healthcare delivery in South Africa. Therefore, an Integrated Recovery Management Model for recovery (aftercare) service provision is recommended which should be aligned to local policies and context with due cognizance of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC), and World Health Organization (WHO) chronic treatment approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last 25 years, South Africa's regional and global stature has been in flux. Although there is continuity in its foreign policy objectives, there have been changes in emphasis and application. These changes, together with shifts in the domestic political and economic landscape, have impacted negatively on South Africa's international relations. President Cyril Ramaphosa, in his 2018 State of the Nation Address, boldly proclaimed a 'new dawn' for South Africa. A key aspect of the intended new dawn is the repositioning of South Africa regionally and globally. This paper examines the shifts and the continuity in South Africa's foreign policy, and the reasons for its waning global and regional stature. The paper argues that South Africa is once again in a position to be a norm- and agenda-setter, especially in relation to peace and security, but that this will be a lost opportunity if there is a lack of the necessary reflection, visioning and redress needed for transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, South Africa's international standing has come under attack by Western-leaning forces who advocate that the country should forget its global South stance in favour of obeisance to the neoliberal world order. This can be seen in the almost 30-year-old narrative which questions who South Africa should be allied with. The purpose of this narrative, according to Professor Chris Landsberg, is to 'de-legitimize' the country's international image. In this research, the author examines South African-Cuban relations from a realist and postcolonial perspective, arguing that South Africa's rich history and foreign policy of non-alignment in fact give it a respected status in the community of international states--an idea which is never afforded to the country. Instead, the nuances of South African-Cuban relations, and in fact South Africa's relationship with other states which are vocally 'anti-imperialist', are often overlooked, distorted, and hidden from the public's attention. This paper brings attention to this debate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 1994, South Africa has demonstrated a strong commitment to promoting good international citizenship through inclusion beyond the boundaries of the nation-state. Global citizenship concerns a recognition of a universal moral dimension. The emphasis is placed on ethical obligations to humanity that transcend obligations to fellow citizens. This paper used the realist theory to understand a state's participation in driving national interest. Usually, the core interests of a nation are non-negotiable, and they deal with the existence of a nation, while the essential national interest concerns those factors invoked for survival. South Africa's first slogan has been advocated by the opposition as a policy position. Proponents of this notion seek to reduce the country's humanitarian intervention in the global arena by prioritising the interests of citizens and protecting the nation's sovereign rights. National interest constitutes the bulk of the foreign policy concept and depicts what the state aspires to achieve through its respective foreign policy. To compete in a complex and competitive global economic environment, South Africa's historically flawed and dysfunctional human capital development strategies have failed to produce the quantity and quality of human resources required by the economy. Even though the South African government has developed policies focused on poverty alleviation, inequality has regrettably remained rampant. The paper concluded that human capital development has enormous implications for South Africa's good international citizenship. [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 field of IPE has traditionally being conceptualized as an Anglo Saxon construct, in this paper we argue that it is critically important to reflect on the way IPE has developed outside the mainstream, in the periphery, focusing on the case studies of Africa -- in particular South Africa; Asia -- in particular China; and South America, in order to start a conversation that engages with the contributions of peripheral IPE. By bringing to light the way IPE has been approached in these regions of the world we identify problems, ideas, and concerns different from those in the North and which also call attention to the necessity of a conscious reading of these works and to opening a dialogue and comparison among them. The paper explores the contributions made by IPE in Africa, Asia and South America in order to discuss the possibility of widening IPE's 'global conversation' including peripheral approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many developing countries aim at balancing macro-level, growth-oriented economic policies with local community-based development strategies under the auspices of global governance organizations. South Africa adopts such a strategy to be competitive in the global market and, simultaneously, to alleviate domestic socio-spatial inequalities inherited from the apartheid period. Based on a qualitative case study in and around Pilanesberg National Park, this paper assesses whether this seemingly contradictory policy combination elicits the empowerment of traditionally marginalized actors. We use an institutional approach to evaluating sustainable development policy. Results of a policy perception analysis indicate that the substantive aspects of South Africa's policies are widely acknowledged in the Pilanesberg area. The problem rests with the procedural aspects of how to deal with the shared responsibility of stakeholders with different interests and levels of authority. The paper concludes that power can be meaningfully shifted to community stakeholders only when the investments of global and national-level players are redirected towards establishing a system of procedures to solve local-level disparities in skills and power between the "jointly responsible" actors. These disparities currently result in deadlocks regarding local sustainable development in the Pilanesberg area, despite promising multi-level policies implemented in the post-apartheid era to avoid such situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building on established scholarship in international relations theory, notably Alexander Wendt's assertion that ‘states are people too’, this paper explores South African foreign policy decisions that are routinely dismissed as being ‘schizophrenic’, and makes two claims: first, that existing scholarship fails to adequately address causal factors of South African foreign policy and, second, that we need to turn to emotions and affect to do so. As such, the theoretical framework adopted for the purposes of the paper treats ‘state-level’ affect as a central explanatory factor, in contrast to established scholarship on emotion theorisation, which treats states as ontologically subordinate to their constituent members and thus subject to the private affects and cognitions of the individuals that make decisions on behalf of the state. Existing literature on collective emotion seems to support the possibility of state emotion. This notion of transsubjective emotionality facilitates the argument that states have emotions too, and that these emotions condition not only identities but also actions in international relations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper lies at the intersection of discussions surrounding digitally mediated research methods and transnational research projects. It contributes to the current methodological debate surrounding online interviewing by focusing on tensions and affordances involved in Skype-to-phone interviewing in a transnational research context. While the Skype-to-phone facility does indeed increase further access to global participants, complex power hierarchies and ethical concerns continue to exist in relation to technological access/infrastructure, research governance regimes in different places and interpersonal research relations. We, therefore, propose that online researchers involved in transnational research projects using Skype methods move towards consideration of multiple competing constituencies and diverse social and spatial connectivities and power hierarchies in which they are researching. These social differences and spatial registers are not swept away through research conducted in a uniform virtual digital environment; rather transnational researchers must make explicit the multiple place-based contexts of their digitally mediated research, as they shape the research process in distinct ways. Thus, specific consideration must be given to ethical concerns that emanate from transnational online research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims to shed light on the particularities of two national liberation movements - turned political parties and how they embraced their new role after the liberation struggle had ended and majority rule had been obtained. South Africa's ANC and Zimbabwe's ZANU-PF are analyzed in an attempt to ultimately underline why democracy was approached distinctively by the too. We also bring some arguments as to why South Africa failed to stop ZANU-PF's descent into autocracy, amidst internal and international pressures to intervene. After a short historical background of the two NLMs, we discuss the links between them, the particular political and social conditions which shaped their behaviours and the commonalities and differences in said behaviours. We argue that, as long as the democratic principles identified with ZANU-PF's struggle for the empowerment of a new elite, the former were pursued; when the two no longer overlapped, stronghold politics and policies took primacy. We also argue that faced with similar contestation as ZANU-PF, the ANC might chose to sacrifice democracy for the sake of regime survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Brazilian Journal of Occupational Therapy / Cadernos Brasileiros de Terapia Ocupacional is the property of Cadernos de Terapia Ocupacional da UFSCar 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.)

Copyright of Humania del Sur: Revista de Estudios Latinoamericanos, Africanos y Asiáticos is the property of Humania del Sur. Estudios Latinoamericanos Africanos y Asiaticos 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 paper assesses the role of the BASIC countries — Brazil, South Africa, India, and China — in UN climate change negotiations. The paper explores the formation and evolution of the group, and focuses on how the four major developing countries of China, India, Brazil, and South Africa have coordinated their positions and acted jointly to achieve an agreed outcome with other players in the recent UN Climate Change Conferences in Copenhagen and Cancun, based on an analysis of their country profiles and negotiation positions on a wide range of climate issues. The paper argues that the emergence of the BASIC Group is a reflection of the ongoing power shift from EU–US agreement to BASIC–US compromise in UN climate negotiations since the early 1990s. The rise of BASIC also has its roots in recent global market dynamics and further reflects the power transformation in the economic dimension of the international system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper delineates three debates, which will be conflated. One line of discussion relates to public goods at a transnational level. Here, the referencing of debates regarding the characteristics of ‘a common good’ will be of significance. A second strand addresses the group of countries known as the ‘rising powers’ and the role these countries could play towards a globalised common good. A third discussion thread analyses South Africa as a case study for the main rising power on the African continent. By creating connections between the lines of discussion, this paper drives forward the debates on how the role of rising powers can be conceptually repositioned in the light of a changing global context, and explores how these countries can respond to global challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

When the university discusses the South African divestiture issue only in terms of legal fiduciary principles, it encourages the perception that it is neglecting its other, perhaps unique, political responsibilities. The university should at least develop strategies promoting policies based on equal respect for all persons and reject policies denying it. (Author/MSE)

Maintains that United States foreign policy toward South Africa has been "found wanting" since 1948. Focuses on the failure of President Reagan's policy of "constructive engagement," and details what must be done to bring about an end to apartheid. (JDH)

Discusses the sociocultural context of education in the Comoro Islands, where effects of French colonization combine with Islamic influences. Examines education and cultural changes under French colonialism prior to independence in 1975. Since then, political changes resulted in establishment of French and South African hegemony. One table, 5 references. (TES)

This paper shows how in the past quackery was seen as a problem of remoteness and isolation while today it is global connects which provide the nourishing grounds for it. It looks at 'Dr Elsie' from rural Bushbuckridge, South Africa who uses a Quantum Resonance Magnetic Analysis Machine as a diagnostic tool to prescribe Chinese supplements. The paper describes how the practicing 'doctor' draws approval and a sense of legitimate professionalism from the economic success of her newly established business. Here, pseudo medical business becomes a conduit for social aspirations while she places the 'burden of proof' about the legitimacy of what she does with the very same people who the technology she uses deceives. The paper is framed by how the author's own sense of faithfulness as researcher is challenged by the difficulty to draw a clear line between authentic and pseudo health care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The (sometimes fragile) balance between South Africa's constitutional obligations to protect and promote human rights in the international arena and the realities of political practice is the focus of this paper. The Constitution provides for solid dualist mechanisms and procedures for parliamentary oversight of the executive's conduct in the governance of international relations, including the conclusion of treaties. There is, however, a congenital constitutional flaw in the oversight instrumentation of the Constitution: the president is endowed with practically unfettered control over cabinet, and through the cabinet and the parliamentary caucus, he has indirect but firm control over parliament. Consequently, parliamentary oversight of international relations is severely challenged, effectively leaving it to the minority parties, civil society and the courts. This paper assesses the effectiveness of the protection of international human rights in South Africa by constitutional means. It begins by setting out the constitutional foundations that were designed to provide the desired protection and the place of international law in the South African legal order. This is followed by a description of the impact of political reality on the implementation of the constitutional oversight mechanisms. Due to the justiciability of government conduct under the Constitution, parliamentary oversight of executive conduct in the international sphere has largely taken the form of judicial review. In this, the courts have performed very well. This emerges from a concise overview of some key cases in which the courts developed sound principles and delivered strong judgments about the government's failures to maintain the required constitutional standards in its international relations. The cases show a sensitivity on the part of the courts to avoid judicial overreach, while taking up the responsibility to uphold constitutionalism. While the courts' stabilising interventions must be applauded, the executive tendency to flout its constitutional responsibilities remains a cause for concern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transition to democracy in South Africa represents one of the most celebrated political moments of the late 20th C. While much has been said about the narrowly political and constitutional aspects of this period in South African and world history, little has been said about economic policy choices made in the transition years, or about the role of business in the transition or indeed about how business of all kinds responded to the changes. This collection of essays written by some of the leading scholars of South African business represents one of the first attempts to cover this lacunae in the literature. In the Introductory essay we review the context for these changes in politics and business relations, and summarise the findings of the papers that follow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to improve our understanding of how South African economic actors react to the gradual entry of non-South African BRICS firms in their established business areas. Throughout the twentieth century, South Africa's trade and investment activities were conducted overwhelmingly with Western countries. However, the end of apartheid coincided with significant shifts as new players had a wider and growing presence. South Africa entering the BRICS alliance is symbolic of the change. Ease of entry into the South African economy has increased greatly. South African businesses in key subsectors in the mining and capital equipment industry have had to adapt to new players, and find space in new structures, value chains and initiatives. This paper presents the results of this research activity from the perspective of the South African political economy. Practice-oriented research investigated how six local companies forge new partnerships and how well South African firms adapt and cope with an altered and often unstable environment. It assumed that entrepreneurial activity is not autonomous but takes place within a larger organisational framework. Entrepreneurial activity facilitates the effective exploitation of particular niches and relationships with service providers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on South Africa's post-apartheid foreign policy decision-making has stagnated. For more than a quarter century analysts have generally drawn on secondary material from other scholars, newspaper reporting, and the speeches of government officials to elucidate how South Africa crafts and carries out its foreign policy. The accessibility of previously classified archival documents and the availability of policy makers for research interviews holds the potential to advance scholarship on South African foreign policy along two fronts. First, these primary sources offer insight into foreign policy decision-making processes. And second, they encourage a critical re-evaluation of many of the traditional understandings and tropes that have dominated the study of South African foreign policy. This paper outlines the state of foreign policy studies in South Africa and then demonstrates the power of primary research to alter key ideas about the conduct and content of South African foreign policy through three case studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past two decades, South Africa has sought to perform several roles on the world stage, such as the economic dynamo of Southern Africa, a diplomatic heavyweight representing the African continent, and a norm leader on the world stage as a so-called ‘middle-power’. Although South Africa's evolution and rise as an important player in global affairs has generated a welcome body of critical scholarly literature, comparatively little analysis has been allocated to understandinghownorm dynamics and the country's ever-evolving international identities have enabled it to construct and reconstruct its ‘interests’. Social constructivism is best suited for such an analysis because it can operationalise norms, commitments, identities, and interests, and it provides the epistemological tools to map the increasingly multilateral connections between global, regional, and domestic forums. By employing a rationalist approach to constructivism, this paper remedies the aforementioned gap in the literature by illustrating how South Africa constructs and reconstructs its identities and interests in relation to membership in international organisations (IOs). To that end, the paper examines the evolution of South Africa's participation in the African Union (especially ‘peacekeeping’ contributions) and the International Criminal Court. The paper concludes by assessing the theoretical implications and practical ramifications of the norm dynamics involved in South Africa's commitment to these two IOs. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In 1964, the UK government imposed an arms embargo on South Africa, which it maintained until the end of the white minority rule. What explains this embargo? Using mainly archival evidence, this paper demonstrates that domestic political dynamics in the United Kingdom mediated the influence of the transnational anti-apartheid and anti-colonial struggles on the British government. The United Kingdom imposed and maintained this embargo due in part to a domestic advocacy network, whose hub was the Anti-Apartheid Movement. The paper provides a comprehensive explanation of an important issue in British foreign policy, the anti-colonial struggle, and Southern Africa's history. There are theoretical implications for foreign policy analysis concerning the role of advocacy networks, interactions between local and global activism, the role of political parties' ideology and contestation, the effects on foreign policy of changes in a normative environment, the effects of norm contestation, and normative determinants of sanctions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In light of the devastation caused by COVID-19, the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and vaccine research and development (R&D) have been occupying a prominent position in the field of global health diplomacy (GHD). Most countries, international organizations, and charitable organizations have been engaged in the R&D of COVID-19 vaccines to ensure timely affordability and accessibility to all countries. Concomitantly, the World Trade Organization (WTO) provides some provisions and enforcements regarding copyrights, patents, trademarks, geographical indications, and industrial designs. Given these safeguards, it is considered that intellectual property rights (IPRs) have become major barriers to the affordability and accessibility of vaccines/medicines/technology, particularly to the developing/least developed countries. Realizing the gravity of the pandemic impact, as well as its huge population and size, India has elevated this issue in its global health diplomacy by submitting a joint proposal with South Africa to the World Trade Organization (WTO) for a temporary waiver of IPRs to ensure timely affordability and accessibility of COVID-19 medical products to all countries. However, the issue of the temporary waive off had become a geopolitical issue. Countries that used to claim per se as strong advocates of human rights, egalitarianism, and healthy democracy have opposed this proposal. In this contrasting milieu, this paper is aimed at examining how the TRIPS has become a barrier for developing countries' development and distribution of vaccines/technology; secondly, how India strategizes its role in the WTO in pursuant of its global health diplomacy? We conclude that the IPRs regime should not become a barrier to the accessibility/affordability of essential drugs and vaccines. To ensure access, India needs to get more engaged in GHD with all the involved global stakeholders to get strong support for their joint proposal. The developed countries that rejected/resisted the proposal can rethink their full support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's footprint in Africa's media sector over the last decade has reached dimensions that make it impossible to go unnoticed. In South Africa, one of the countries where this imprint is most diversified, Chinese media have been engaged in a varied range of activities, including content production and distribution, infrastructure development, direct investment in local media and training of journalists. Building on previous exploratory studies by the authors, this paper addresses an unresolved question in the study of China's media internationalization: the impact on journalism. Using data from 20 semi-structured in-depth interviews with editors, journalists and policy makers, we investigate how much influence Chinese media exercise on journalism in South Africa. We present responses along three dimensions: consumption of and attitudes towards Chinese media, impact on local journalism and views about South Africa-China relations. Our data offer evidence that, despite having substantially increased their presence, Chinese media are far from having a profound impact on media professionals. While some interviewees report the adoption of some Chinese media in their daily news consumption, scepticism towards China, and by extension its media, dominates. We discuss these findings in the context of Chinese state-owned media's attempts to increase their discursive power globally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]