Browsing by Author "Maphumulo, Simangele Monica"

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    The international relations policies of South Africa, 1990-2008
    (University of Zululand, 2019) Maphumulo, Simangele Monica
    This study aimed at examining the issue of participatory, or “democratic,” international relations’ policy making through the lens of International Relations Policy Analysis (IFPA), a theoretical approach that helped provide the definitional framework for the study. Various regime types and leadership characterised and shaped South Africa’s international relations policies during the epoch in question. This necessitated a theoretical and empirical exposition of the various thrusts and narratives of South African government’s international relations policies during crucial epochs in the country’s history. The 1948-1989 era saw the rule of National Party until the unbanning of the ANC. This was characterized by South Africa’s efforts to counter its growing international isolation and find friends wherever they could be solicited. Key problematizing issues included withdrawal from the Commonwealth; growing international isolation; strained ties with the United Nations; growing estrangement from the United States and traditional allies in Europe; growing ties with other global pariahs; clandestine propaganda and sanctions-busting efforts; and Pretoria’s efforts to build ties with African states. The period 1994-1999 witnessed the culmination of South African re-engagement efforts and saw the country, still basking in the afterglow of its successful transition under the rule of the African National Congress, play an active and outsized role in the international arena. However, South African international relations’ policy during this period also was marked by significant difficulties in balancing its idealist aims with more “realist” considerations. No longer was a global pariah, South Africa was ultimately compelled to make difficult geopolitical choices. The epoch 1999-2008 endorsed efforts to bring peace, democracy, and prosperity to the rest of Africa while positioning Pretoria as an influential actor both globally and on the continent. South Africa’s growing prioritization of the developing world; its global diplomatic expansion; Pretoria’s efforts to “punch above its weight” in the international arena, on such issues as reform of global governance structures; and its shift from a human rights focus in the early period to more “pragmatic” policies. What served as justification for this study is that these developments advocated the need to “democratize” international relations’ policy making, making it more participatory and open to inputs from broader society as well as ensuring legislative oversight to prevent the executive from policy unilateralism. This was best be demonstrated by delving into varying Presidencies on International Relations’ Policy Making and Ruling Regimes in perspective; international Relations’ Policy in the Period of Transition; as well as international Relations in the pragmatic era, disaggregating a plethora of protagonists involved in the process—both from the influencing and decision-making sides of the coin— analyzed their individual roles in the process of international relations’ policy democratization until 2008.