The weak domestic base of South Africa's good global citizenship

The self-appointed role of good international citizen that South Africa has played since 1994 is the external corollary of its supposed good governance at home. Weaknesses in domestic governance have, however, been evident since early in the life of democratic South Africa. These problems have become more acute, and internal dissatisfaction with and external awareness of ‘poor service delivery’ in South Africa have grown since 2009 when Jacob Zuma became president. The article illustrates that South Africa fails to meet core criteria of good governance and considers the implications of weak governance for the Republic's good international citizenship.     

South Africa and Myanmar: Beware the politics of perfidy

The article examines the repressive actions of the government of Myanmar, focusing on its continuing incarceration of a Nobel Peace Prize Winner, and questions the diplomatic route South Africa has chosen in terms of its relations with the country.     

The sins of Saddam

Whatever evidence emerges of Weapons of Mass Destruction in postwar Iraq, the fact remains that Iraq was the archetypal international rule‐breaker during Saddam Hussein's 24‐year dictatorship for transgressions ranging from WMD to genocide.     

Reviews

Ideology and Development in Africa by Crawford Young Yale University Press, New Haven (Connecticut), 1982. xviii plus 376 pp. including tables, notes and index. R62,57. R23,35 paperback.

Essays on the Political Economy of Rural Africa by Robert H. Bates Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1983. xiii plus 184 pp. including tables, notes and index. R40,95.

Political Development Theory: The Contemporary Debate by Richard A. Higgott Croom Helm, London, 1983. xvi plus 124 pp. including index. £6,95 paperback.

Decolonization: The Administration and Future of the Colonies, 1919–1960 by Rudolf von Albertini Holmes and Meier, Inc., New York, 1982 (reprint), xxx plus 680 pp. including notes, bibliography and index. $ 37,50. $19,50 paperback.

Foreign Policy‐Making in Developing States: A Comparative Approach edited by Christopher Clapham Saxon House, Westmead, 1977. x plus 184 pp. including tables, maps, bibliography and index. R45,8o.

The Politics of Basic Needs: Urban Aspects of Assaulting Poverty in Africa by Richard Sandbrook Heinemann, London, 1982. vi plus 250 pp. including tables, notes and index. £5,95 paperback.

Redistribution of Population in Africa edited by John I. Clarke and Leszek A. Kosiński Heinemann, London, 1982. xii plus 212 pp. including tables, figures, maps, index of names and subject index. £7,50 paperback.

Oral Historiography by David Henige Longman, London, 1982. x plus 150 pp. including notes, bibliography and index. £3,95 paperback.

Nigeria von der völkerrechtlichen Unabhangigkeit zur zweiten Republik: Analyse und Dokumentation by Joseph Lütke Entrup Verlag Hans Richarz, Sankt Augustin, 1981. 243 pp. including appendices and bibliography. DM29,80.

Oral Poetry and Somali Nationalism: The Case of Sayyid Mahammad ‘Abdille Hasan by Said S. Samatar Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1982. xii plus 232 pp. including illustrations, figures, tables, notes, bibliography and index. R52,50.

Tom Mboya: The Man Kenya Wanted to Forget by David Goldsworthy Heinemann, London, 1982. xii plus 308 pp. including appendix and index. R30,80.

Development Policies and Approaches in Southern Africa edited by D. A. Kotzé Academica, Pretoria, 1983, 147 pp. including bibliography and index. R16,50.

Das südliche Afrika — I: Republik Südafrika‐Swasiland‐Lesotho by Ernst Klimm, Karl‐Günther Schneider and Bernd Wiese Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt, 1980. 307 pp. including maps, tables, graphs and index. Also annexure of photographs. DM84,00.

Die Städte des südlichen Afrika by Karl‐Gunther Schneider and Bernd Wiese, Bornträger, Berlin and Stuttgart, 1983. 175 pp. including maps, tables, figures, graphs, photographs and index. DM98,00.

Südafrika: Fakten und Probleme by Karl‐Gunther Schneider and Bernd Wiese Seewald, Stuttgart, 1983. 187 pp. including maps, tables, figures, graphs, photographs and index. DM24,00.

Verkehrsgeographische Strukturwandlungen im südlichen Afrika, 1975–1980 by Joachim Jeske Institut für Afrika‐Kunde, Hamburg, 1981. 256 pp. including maps, tables and figures. DM22,00.

Malawi: Geographie eines unterentwickelten Landes by Cay Lienau Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt, 1981. 243 pp. including maps, tables, graphs and index. Also annexure of photographs. DM89,00.

Kaunda on Violence by Kenneth D. Kaunda and edited by Colin M. Morris Willia m Collins, London, 1980. 184 pp. R6,95 paperback.

Under the Skin: The Death of White Rhodesia by David Caute Allen Lane, London, 1983. 447 pp. including maps and chronology. £14,95.

Race and Ethnicity: South African and International Perspectives edited by Hendrik W. van der Merwe and Robert A. Schrire, David Philip, Cape Town, 1980. 237 pp. including notes and index. R9,00 paperback.

South Africa in the World Economy edited by Jacqueline Matthews McGraw‐Hill, Johannesburg, 1983. xi plus 271pp. including index. R23,50.

Black Politics in South Africa since 1945 by Tom Lodge Ravan Press, Johannesburg, 1983. x plus 389 pp. including figures, notes, sources and index. R 14,95 paperback.

Which Way is South Africa Going? by Gwendolen M. Carter Indiana University Press, Bloomington (Indiana), and London, 1980. xii plus 162 pp. including maps, bibliographical notes and index. $12,95.

The God of the Xhosa: A Study of the Origins and Development of the Traditional Concepts of the Supreme Being by Janet Hodgson Oxford University Press, Cape Town, 1982. xiv plus 131 pp. including appendices, bibliography and index. R9,75 paperback.

Black People and the South African War, 1899–1902 by Peter Warwick Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1983. xiv plus 226 pp. including maps, tables, notes, select bibliography and index. R52,25.

Afrikaner Political Thought: Analysis and Documents — Volume I: 1780–1850 by André du Ton and Hermann Giliomee David Philip, Cape Town and Johannesburg, 1983. xxx plus 309 pp. including notes and index. R36,oo. R 18,00 paperback.     

Rebuilding the DRC

The DRC's transitional parliamentary system, run by appointed officials, is still in place pending the country's first elections. The system is characterised by personal considerations overriding those of the electorate and a disregard for the strengthening of democracy.     

Documents

South Africa's contemporary foreign policy cannot be understood outside an explanation of its post-apartheid political transition. Its actors, the ideas they express, the interests they represent and the institutions they craft are all crucially influenced and impacted upon by the democratic transition and how it has evolved. This democratic transition is defined by two foundational characteristics. First, as one of the last of the ‘anti-colonial’ transitions led by an African nationalist leadership, it is driven with a focus on achieving racial equality in both the domestic and global context. Second, the transition has occurred when a particular configuration of power prevailed in the global order that not only established the parameters which governed its evolution, but also determined which interests prevailed within it. The former's imprint on the foreign policy agenda is manifested in South Africa's prioritisation of Africa, its almost messianic zeal to modernise the continent through a focus on political stability and economic growth, and its desire to reform the global order so as to create an enabling environment for African development. It is also reflected in South Africa's insistence not to be seen to be dictated to by the West, especially in the fashioning of its economic policies and its approach to addressing the Zimbabwean question. The latter manifests itself not only in how corporate interests take centre stage in South Africa's foreign policy interactions, but also in how transnational alliances like India–Brazil–South Africa (IBSA) are being fashioned to challenge big powers and their interests in global forums and in the international system. These thematic concerns are the subject of investigation in this paper.