South African Foreign Policy Review: Volume 1

CHAPTER 14. Reflections on South Africa’s post-apartheid foreign policy and preliminary comments on future foreign policy

274 CHAPTER 14 Reflections on South Africa’s post-apartheid foreign policy and preliminary comments on future foreign policy Jo-Ansie van Wyk INTRODUCTION P ost-apartheid South Africa’s reintegration into the international community resulted in the reorientation and development of the country’s foreign policy. In particular, the role of the African National Congress (ANC) in winning the country’s first ever democratic elections in 1994 as the new governing party, and thus a key foreign policy actor, has underpinned these developments. The focus on the ANC as a post-apartheid foreign policy actor is deliberate, owing to the party’s historical role in the country’s liberation struggle and the implications thereof for the international relations of apartheid South Africa; the party’s victories in successive elections and its majority in the post-apartheid parliament.1 During its period in exile, the ANC established extensive international relations with individual states and intergovernmental Organizations such as the United Nations (UN), the Organization for African Unity (OAU) and the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). A second implication of South Africa’s reintegration into the international community was that the foreign policy objectives of the ANC-led government were implemented. The post-apartheid South African government remains unequivocal about the main objective of its foreign policy: National priorities informs the vision of South Africa’s foreign policy in creating a better South Africa, a better Africa and a better world and aims to counter threats that impact on global political and economic stability. South Africa’s foreign policy therefore recognises that in order to achieve a better life for all, development and security are best addressed through adequate attention to all global threats facing humanity.2 A final implication of South Africa’s reintegration has been that the ANCled government established relations with its liberation partners, so that 275 historical relations were aligned with the party’s foreign policy, reflecting change and continuity. The purpose of the first South African Foreign Policy Review is to analyse and assess South Africa’s post-apartheid foreign policy by focusing on several pertinent areas such as foreign policy decision-making; the country ’s international position; and its relations with Africa, the industrialised North and the developing South. In addition to this, the Review highlights South Africa’s changing role and position within the wider international milieu. This chapter, therefore, reflects on some of the conclusions drawn by contributors to the first South African Foreign Policy Review, as well as considering the practical implications of contributors’ conclusions for the future evolution or development of South Africa’s post-apartheid foreign policy. Finally, the chapter considers the study of South Africa’s postapartheid foreign policy and presents recommendations for future research in this area. REVIEWING SOUTH AFRICA’S POST-APARTHEID FOREIGN POLICY As Chris Landsberg has indicated in chapter 1, various earlier attempts, at annual or biennial reviews of South African foreign policy have occurred since 1994. In 1996, the country’s oldest foreign policy think tank, the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA), published its first annual South African Yearbook of International Affairs which focused on the country ’s new foreign policy and its new relations. Typically, subsequent editions of the South African Yearbook of International Affairs include chapters on South African foreign policy, its bilateral and multilateral relations, and a selection of global issues. Apart from the South African Yearbook of International Affairs, the University of South Africa (Unisa) VerLoren van Themaat Centre for Public Law Studies has, since 1975, published an annual review, the South African Yearbook of International Law, on the development of international law in South Africa, and on aspects of South Africa’s foreign policy and international relations.3 The South African government’s annual South Africa Yearbook contains a chapter on South Africa’s international relations and often follows the structure of the annual report of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and, since 2009, the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO). The South African government regards the South Africa Yearbook as the ‘official authoritative reference’ on the country.4 Since 2003, the state-sponsored research institute, the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), has published the State of the Nation. Its REFLECTIONS ON SOUTH AFRICA’S POST-APARTHEID FOREIGN POLICY 276 inaugural edition included chapters on South Africa as a middle power and the country’s expansion into Africa.5 Subsequent editions included chapters on...