Intergovernmental relations on foreign affairs in South Africa : a twenty year review

Abstract: This article analyses relations between South Africa’s national and provincial governments on foreign affairs over the past 20 years. It departs from the premise that the idea of relative autonomy of subnational governments, which is embedded in South Africa’s 1996 constitution, has remained largely underdeveloped owing to factors such as inherent ambiguities in the constitutional design, a strong centralising ethos on the part of the ruling party and generally weak provincial capacities. Consequently, relations between the national and provincial governments on foreign affairs have been low‐key, predominantly focused on technical matters and generally of a top‐down nature. Provincial governments have been virtually absent from the foreign policy‐making process despite constitutional provisions to that effect. What is more, the article notes that intergovernmental processes intended to coordinate provincial international relations and align them with national development priorities and South Africa’s foreign policy have for the most part been ineffective and inefficient

The rhetoric and practice of the international responsibility to prevent mass atrocities: Reflections on South Africa’s peacebuilding role in South Sudan (2005–2013)

Abstract: While global consensus on the meaning and application of the responsibility to protect (R2P) principle remains tenuous, there is little contention among major actors that the development of the norm should prioritise the prevention of mass atrocities. In particular, BRICS countries, whose role is vital for the future development of R2P as a global norm, but which continue to express reservations about the intent and application of the doctrine, have been strong advocates of the preventive aspects of the principle. This rhetorical consensus, however, belies the conceptual and practical challenges that are associated with the prevention of mass atrocities. In this paper, I use the example of South Africa’s post-conflict reconstruction and development (PCRD) interventions in South Sudan from 2005 to 2013 to reflect on the role of external actors in supporting conflict-affected states to implement the preventive aspects of R2P. I argue that while South Africa, like other BRICS countries, has used the rhetoric that atrocity prevention should be at the core of R2P to legitimise its opposition to military intervention for humanitarian purposes, it has struggled to back this rhetoric with coherent strategies and concrete actions to prevent mass atrocity crimes within its sphere of influence. The gap between rhetoric and practice in the preventive aspects of R2P is not unique to South Africa, but highlights fundamental difficulties inherent in global efforts to prevent mass atrocities

The Domestic Sources of City Diplomacy: The Case of the City of Johannesburg, 2011-2016

The mainstream literature on global cities tends to explain the internationalization of cities almost exclusively from the perspective of recent developments in global capitalism, developments that have put cities at the heart of an increasingly globalized, financialized, and deregulated world economy. The internationa­lization of these so-called global cities is seen as a response to, and is conditioned by, external, and mainly economic, exigencies. Research on the foreign relations of city governments has followed in this tradition, with a predominant focus on the global drivers and manifestations, as well as the systemic implications of this phe­nomenon. Little academic attention has been given to the domestic contexts within which city governments develop and exercise their international agency. This paper is inspired by the emergence of alternative accounts in the global cities literature, which have underscored the importance of the domestic context in ma­king sense of the contemporary internationali­zation of cities, to analyze the domestic sources of the City of Johannesburg’s foreign relations from 2011 to 2016. While acknowledging Johannesburg’s global cities ambition as a major driver of the city government’s interna­tional relations during this period, we identify and analyze a set of local and national factors that equally inspired and conditioned the city’s foreign engagements. These include the huge socio-economic and spatial divide that con­tinues to define the city, the influence of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) and its doctrine of progressive internationalism, as well as the then mayor’s internationalist out­look and domestic political ambitions.La literatura dominante sobre ciudades glo­bales tiende a explicar la internacionalización de las urbes casi exclusivamente desde la pers­pectiva de los desarrollos recientes en el capi­talismo global, desarrollos que han puesto a las ciudades en el corazón de una economía mun­dial cada vez más globalizada, financiarizada y desregulada. La internacionalización de estas llamadas ciudades globales se concibe como una respuesta y está condicionada por exigen­cias externas y, principalmente, económicas. La investigación sobre las relaciones exteriores de los gobiernos de las ciudades ha seguido esta tradición, con un enfoque predominante en las conductas y manifestaciones globales, así como en las implicaciones sistémicas de este fenóme­no. Se ha prestado poca atención académica a los contextos domésticos dentro de los cuales los gobiernos de las ciudades desarrollan y ejer­cen su agencia internacional. Este artículo se inspira en el surgimiento de relatos alternativos en la literatura sobre ciudades globales, que han subrayado la importancia del contexto domés­tico para dar sentido a la internacionalización contemporánea de las ciudades, con el fin de analizar las fuentes domésticas de las relacio­nes exteriores de la ciudad de Johannesburgo desde 2011 hasta 2016. Si bien reconocemos la ambición de Johannesburgo de convertirse en una ciudad global y en un importante impulsor de las relaciones internacionales del gobierno de la ciudad durante este periodo, identificamos y analizamos un conjunto de factores locales y nacionales que igualmente inspiraron y con­dicionaron los compromisos extranjeros de la ciudad. Estos incluyen la enorme división socioeconómica y espacial que continúa de­finiendo la ciudad, la influencia del partido de gobierno, el Congreso Nacional Africano (ANC), y su doctrina de internacionalismo progresista, así como la perspectiva internacio­nalista del entonces alcalde y sus ambiciones políticas internas

The evolution of South Africa's democracy promotion in Africa : from idealism to pragmatism

Abstract: South Africa is an emerging power with fairly strong democratic institutions that were crafted during the transition from minority to majority rule twenty years ago. How has South Africa used its position and power to promote democracy in Africa? Against the backdrop of debates on democracy promotion by emerging powers, this article probes attempts by successive post-apartheid governments to promote democracy in Africa. We argue that although democracy promotion featured prominently in South Africa’s policy toward Africa in the immediate post-apartheid period under Nelson Mandela, the administrations of Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma faltered in advancing democratic norms. This is largely because South Africa has confronted pressures to maximize pragmatic national interests, which have compromised a democratic ethos in a continental environment where these values have yet to find steady footing

Historical institutionalism and the development of sub-state diplomacy in South Africa

This article borrows theoretical insights from historical institutionalism to analyse the development of sub-state diplomacy in the South African context. It identifies the political negotiations that allowed South Africa to make a relatively peaceful transition from apartheid to a democratic dispensation as a critical historical juncture that established the institutional pathway on which subsequent political processes would unfold. Although the Constitution that emerged from this historical moment makes room for semi-autonomous sub-national entities with some degree of competences in foreign affairs, it also deferred to the impulses of the ANC for a centralised system of government. The article argues that, in the context of the ANC’s entrenched hegemony in the post-apartheid South African polity, this compromise has translated into a centralised political culture which has shaped the nature, scope, and efficacy of the international involvement of provinces and municipalities. Not only have provincial and local governments been shut out of the foreign policy-making process, but their direct involvement in international relations has also been constrained by the dominant understanding that matters of foreign affairs are the exclusive preserve of the national government. The article concludes by noting that without any significant prospects for a major transformation of the institutional order, provinces like the Western Cape have resorted to creative measures that enable them to by-pass the constraining effects of the system in order to make the most of their international relations

Paradiplomacy : a comparative analysis of the international relations of South Africa’s Gauteng, North West and Western Cape provinces

D.Litt. et Phil. (Politics)South Africa’s 1996 Constitution makes provision for relatively autonomous provincial administrations, which share responsibility with the national government for important functional areas while also exercising exclusive authority over others. Although the Constitution is not explicit on the distribution of foreign policy competence, the dominant interpretation among South African policy-makers is that this functional area is the exclusive domain of the national government. Consequently, the foreign policy-making process in the country has over the years been dominated by the national executive. Even so, since 1995 the interplay of a set of push and pull factors has encouraged all provinces to assume an active and direct international role, to the extent that provincial international relations or paradiplomacy has become an important feature of South Africa’s international relations. This study examines the paradiplomacy of the South African provinces of Gauteng, the North West and the Western Cape against the backdrop of a relatively weak scholarly and public discourse of the phenomenon in the country. Through an in-depth and empirically based analysis of the three case studies, the inquiry generates insight into the nature and meaning of paradiplomacy in South Africa, as a contribution to the development of alternative accounts of a phenomenon whose scholarship is still heavily dominated by Western perspectives. The study finds that paradiplomacy has evolved in South Africa as a predominantly functional project, which has little significance for the authority of the national government over the country’s foreign policy and international relations. The provincial governments in Gauteng, the North West and the Western Cape engage in international relations primarily as a strategy to harness the opportunities of globalisation and economic interdependence, in the interest of the socio-economic development of their respective jurisdictions. This ‘developmental paradiplomacy’ is conditioned to a large extent by the limited provincial powers on foreign affairs, strong centripetal forces in South Africa’s political system, as well as the pervasive influence of the post-apartheid discourse on socio-economic transformation. Thus, although all three provinces examined conduct their international relations with relative autonomy and in ways that have at times undermined the country’s international reputation and attracted Pretoria’s ire, these activities are consciously defined within the framework of the country’s foreign policy and, in some cases, are executed in close collaboration with the national government. In a sense, therefore, provinces conceive of their international role as that of agents or champions of Pretoria’s foreign policy agenda. The key findings of this study, especially as they pertain to the nature and significance of paradiplomacy in South Africa, highlight the North-South geopolitical cleavage in the manifestation of the phenomenon. On the one hand, the South African case resonates with the experience in other developing countries like India, China, Malaysia and Argentina, where paradiplomacy evolves under the shadow of national foreign policy processes. On the other hand, the findings contrast with the experience in most countries in Europe and North America where questions of nationalism, sub-national identity and the sovereign authority for international representation have contributed to defining the international agency of sub-national governments

BRICS and Regional Industrialisation in Southern Africa: Partner or Spoiler? The Case of China

This paper argues that the evolution of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) was marred by the fundamental question of the regional development. Since its inception, the SADC sought development by pursuing different models of industrialisation. The bold move by the SADC to launch an industrialisation strategy begged many questions. Among these lie the lessons the SADC could learn from China as a long-term strategic partner in the liberation struggle against colonialism and apartheid. However, the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS), and particularly China, presents the region with a Janusfaced scenario; while it plays a positive role in constructing a win-win solution in matters of trade, peace and security in its interaction with the region, it also erodes the region’s infant sectors such as textiles. China’s attempts to consult new trading routes, through its famous One Belt One Road, represents a great opportunity for the SADC’s quest for regional integration, development, peace and security

Contemporary expressions of the foreign relations of subnational governments in Africa: introduction to the special issue

This special issue explores contemporary foreign relations of African subnational governments (SNGs), a phenomenon popularly referred to as 'paradiplomacy.' In this introductory article, we examine the historical development of paradiplomacy research in Africa, highlighting its gradual progression from initial academic interests in the 1990s to its present state. The issue comprises four full-length articles focusing on case studies from Nigeria, South Africa, and Ghana. These contributions to the special issue present salient examples of African subnational governments and cities engaging in external relations, which have hitherto been overlooked in the global literature. The issue aims to expand scholarly understanding of African paradiplomacy, underscoring its significance for broader debates on statehood, governance, socio-economic development, and international relations. It also seeks to elevate the profile of African paradiplomacy studies and set the future research agenda, urging further research to explore the implications and effectiveness of African SNGs operating in the international arena

The State of Peacebuilding in Africa: Lessons Learned for Policymakers and Practitioners

The birth year of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), 1963, is often considered Africa's year of independence. But political freedom did not mean freedom from the repression and violence which had characterized the colonial period. Wars and conflicts have scarred the continent since independence. After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, they became more complex and widespread. And so, too, did the international efforts to restore and (re) build peace in Africa. Countries worst affected by violence and conflict included Sierra Leone, Liberia, Rwanda, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan/South Sudan, Central African Republic, Mali, and Libya. In recent years, the quest for sustainable peace in Africa has taken on a new urgency, as instability and insecurity continue to negatively impact the lives of millions of Africans and hinder the continent's economic growth and development. This book joins the quest for peace by examining 30 years of peacebuilding in Africa, highlighting key lessons learned and offering some recommendations for making peace stick