Theorising South Africa's foreign policy: The case of Latin America

African Studies Seminar series. Paper presented 13 May, 1985. Not to be quoted without the Author's permissionDuring recent years local scholarship in the field of South Africa's foreign policy has tended to focus on the structure of state institutions and on the personalities of the decision makers. Whilst I do not wish to underplay the importance of monitoring the transformation occurring within the state apparatus , especially in relation to the militarization of the top layers of the bureaucracy, it is nevertheless important to draw away from an emphasis on the model of bureaucratic politics if one is to do full justice to an understanding of South Africa’s interactions with other social formations

The political economy of South-South relations: The case of South Africa and Latin America.

Many factors have inhibited the consolidation of relations between countries of the post-colonial world, the "South". This dissertation aims to explore some of these factors through focusing on a case study of the relations between South Africa and its neighbours across the South Atlantic. Despite naval and commercial hegemony of the British Empire in the South Atlantic region during the nineteenth century, trade proved minimal and South Africa played a limited role in assisting the indictment of the transatlantic slave trade. It was only during the Boer War (1899-1902) that South Africa became the destination of Argentine exports in large measure: frozen beef to meet the needs of British troops. With the end of the war, a significant Boer migration to Patagonia was encouraged by the Argentine government. This community served to cement relations with South Africa up to and including the time of its repatriation in the late 1930s. Brazil's participation in World War Two alongside the Allies opened the way further for relations with South Africa and support for its position inside the new postwar United Nations Organisation. Growing links with the Afro-Asian world did not deter Brazil's military rulers - in power from 1964-85 - from encouraging trade and substantial South African investment. As right-wing military rule swept the Latin American region in the 1960s and 70s, South Africa, by now extremely isolated diplomatically, found a number of friends. Moral and military collaboration from the regimes in the Southern Cone - especially Chile - proved very welcome in Pretoria. Its adversarial relationship with Cuba in the context of regional conflict in Southern Africa also proved important. With redemocratisation in both regions the nature of the relationship will require re-examination. However, in the context of largely dormant South-South relationships, it is unlikely to expand massively under current global conditions of debt, trade competition, and commercial and cultural barriers. Utilising methodological analysis drawn from disciplines of economic history, social history, foreign policy analysis and international political economy, this dissertation attempts to throw light on a rather neglected corner of international relations

Greening the RDP: people, environment, development: report of proceedings [of the] Environmental Justice Networking Forum Constitutive Conference, Kempton Park Conference Centre, 25-27 November 1994

The Environmental Justice Networking Forum’s first national conference had three major objectives: to constitute the organisation on a national basis; to make policy recommendations regarding the implementation of the RDP both for submission to government and as a guide to action by EJNFparticipants; to build and disseminate the workof thelDRC/ANC/ COSATU/ SACP/ SANCO International Mission on Environmental Policy (referred to here as the Mission). EJNF was in itiated at the Earthlife Africa International Environment Conference in 1992 at Pietermaritzburg. That conference mandated an interim national steering committee to guide a process of establishing an organised voice within civil society for environmental justice. It stipulated that the organisation should be formed on a regional basis leading up to the national constitution of EJNF at a national conference. The EJNF conference is thus the culmination of a two year process. During that time, meetings were held to establish EJNF in six regions: Gauteng, Northern Transvaal, Western Cape, Eastern Cape, KwaZulu- Natal and OFS. Participating organisations include women’s, rural, youth, religious and environmental organisations, unions, civics and service NGOs. Each region sent delegations to the national conference. Two other regions, Eastern Transvaal and Northern Cape, also sent delegations which will form the focus groups for establishing EJNF in those regions. Regional EJNF participant organisations also elected members to the national steering committee. They took office at the constitutive conference. The minutes of the constitutive session of the conference are not included here but are available from the EJNF national office. The EJNF delegates were joined by a number of guest delegates for the conference on Greening the RDP. They included members of national organisations which represent or work with the constitutuencies which EJNF is developing and researchers working in the sectors covered by the conference. Government was represented by Ministers Kader Asmal (Water Affairs) and Derek Hanekom (Land Affairs), by provincial MECs, by members of standing committees in parliament and provincial legislatures andby ministry or department officials

Sugar and health in South Africa : potential challenges to leveraging policy change

This paper focuses on a sugar sweetened beverage (SSB) tax. The purpose of the paper is to highlight the challenges that government might anticipate. Affected industry actors have been part of the South African economy for over a century and remain influential. In summary, policy needs to be introduced with a political strategy sensitive to the various interests at stake. To deflect attention, the sugar industry can be expected either to advocate for self-regulation or to promote public–private partnerships. This paper cautions against both approaches as evidence suggests they will be ineffective in curbing the negative health impacts caused by excessive sugar consumption

The influence of hand positions on biomechanical injury risk factors at the wrist joint during the round-off skills in female gymnastics

The aim of this study was to examine the biomechanical injury risk factors at the wrist, including joint kinetics, kinematics and stiffness in the first and second contact limb for parallel and T-shape round-off (RO) techniques. Seven international-level female gymnasts performed 10 trials of the RO to back handspring with parallel and T-shape hand positions. Synchronised kinematic (3D motion analysis system; 247 Hz) and kinetic (two force plates; 1235 Hz) data were collected for each trial. A two-way repeated measure analysis of variance (ANOVA) assessed differences in the kinematic and kinetic parameters between the techniques for each contact limb. The main findings highlighted that in both the RO techniques, the second contact limb wrist joint is exposed to higher mechanical loads than the first contact limb demonstrated by increased axial compression force and loading rate. In the parallel technique, the second contact limb wrist joint is exposed to higher axial compression load. Differences between wrist joint kinetics highlight that the T-shape technique may potentially lead to reducing these bio-physical loads and consequently protect the second contact limb wrist joint from overload and biological failure. Highlighting the biomechanical risk factors facilitates the process of technique selection making more objective and safe

Elbow joint variability for different hand positions of the round off in gymnastics.

The aim of the present study was to conduct within-gymnast analyses of biological movement variability in impact forces, elbow joint kinematics and kinetics of expert gymnasts in the execution of the round-off with different hand positions. Six international level female gymnasts performed 10 trials of the round-off from a hurdle step to a back-handspring using two hand potions: parallel and T-shape. Two force plates were used to determine ground reaction forces. Eight infrared cameras were employed to collect the kinematic data automatically. Within gymnast variability was calculated using biological coefficient of variation (BCV) discretely for ground reaction force, kinematic and kinetic measures. Variability of the continuous data was quantified using coefficient of multiple correlations (CMC). Group BCV and CMC were calculated and T-test with effect size statistics determined differences between the variability of the two techniques examined in this study. The major observation was a higher level of biological variability in the elbow joint abduction angle and adduction moment of force in the T-shaped hand position. This finding may lead to a reduced repetitive abduction stress and thus protect the elbow joint from overload. Knowledge of the differences in biological variability can inform clinicians and practitioners with effective skill selection

L'environnement en Afrique du Sud : l'État et la société civile face aux nouveaux enjeux

Fig David. L'environnement en Afrique du Sud : l'État et la société civile face aux nouveaux enjeux. In: Tiers-Monde, tome 40, n°159, 1999. Afrique du Sud : les débats de la transition, sous la direction de Jean Copans et Roger Meunier. pp. 579-595