South Africa and the Logic of Regional Cooperation (review)

As part of its foreign relations, the interaction between South Africa and its neighborhood has been the subject of much scrutiny since the end of apartheid. Extensive literature has been produced on the Republic's economic and politico-military relations, focusing on their merits and their future development. In his book, Hentz concentrates on the economic aspects of regional cooperation. Now a professor of international studies at the Virginia Military Institute, he laid the basis for the study under review with the research he conducted for his Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania. The pros and cons of South Africa's relationship with its neighbors in the economic domain are not debated in the book. Rather—and this is his main contribution—he takes a step back and "focuses on how and why power brokers in transitional South Africa decided which form of regional economic cooperation to pursue" (17).

The book covers the period from 1990 to 1999 and examines the evolution of the related debate in South Africa, clustering the positions around three concepts: developmental, market integration/cooperation, and ad hoc cooperation. Hentz concentrates on the domestic arena, but also takes into account the influences emanating from the international political economy, which, according to him, "created a powerful undercurrent" (139) in favor of market integration/cooperation. He initially presents a succinct background review of South Africa's approach to Southern Africa from 1948 to 1999, and then examines the main groupings engaged in the domestic debate, their interests and positions, and how these affected Pretoria's regional policy.

The six chapters are organized thematically rather than chronologically. This organization contributes to some of the difficulties occasionally encountered in this work, namely the need to contextualize developments. In addition, the various groupings, as well as their viewpoints and goals, are not always sufficiently introduced or investigated in an in-depth manner. Furthermore, at times, the text does not succeed in penetrating the complexities of and the links among developments. A case in point is the government's replacement of the Reconstruction and Development Program (RDP) with the Growth, Employment and Redistribution (GEAR) plan during 1996. Hentz parallels this policy shift—a key turning point in Pretoria's macroeconomic approach—with the government's stance toward the region at the time moving from the developmental to the market integration/cooperation model. Finally, the impact on South Africa's domestic debate of developments in the region itself, both economic and politico-military in nature, is neglected. This concerns, inter alia, the tensions in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) over the appropriate policy to pursue toward Zimbabwe and its economic outlook. One would assume that this also strengthened the position of those favoring the market integration/cooperation concept with less involvement from the state.

These shortcomings notwithstanding, Hentz's contribution is important and fills a gap in the existing literature on South Africa's position in Southern Africa. Given that this will remain a crucial focus in Pretoria's foreign policy, this study provides valuable insights into the underlying processes.