Chapter 3: South Africa, SADC and the Great Lakes: the Challenge of Conflict

Abstract

This Adelphi Paper analyses and assesses South African foreign policy from the onset of the democratic transition to the contemporary period. The focus is on the question of South African leadership in the context of this transition; the challenges and opportunities South Africa faces within its immediate region and in Africa as a whole; and, more broadly, the country's aspirations to an international role in the South. It provides a comprehensive review of South African foreign policy over the past decade, including new material on key aspects of the transition and the consolidation of foreign policy under Mandela and Mbeki. It looks critically at the interplay between foreign-policy themes - human rights, development and security - at the regional and continental levels through an investigation of specific case studies in central and southern Africa. It also investigates the role of South Africa in promoting an economic and political revival of the African continent.