NEW DIRECTIONS IN A CHANGING GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT: FOREIGN POLICY IN POST-APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA

ABSTRACT

Foreign policy issues pose questions of inherent interest to political geographers. The ‘new’ South Africa entered a dramatically changed global milieu. The international community was eager to receive it, and expected much from it. South Africa's stance on foreign policy issues at regional, continental, South-South and South-North scales poses many questions, and its initial policies were widely criticised as lacking coherence and consistency. This paper provides a broad assessment of the major issues including South Africa's role in North-South and South-South relations and the pursuit of economic integration and regional security in southern Africa. It examines South Africa's stance towards African conflicts and its involvement on the global stage as reflected in the UN, human rights and arms issues. Its position in the global economy is considered in relation to the proposed Indian Ocean Rim Association and the signing of a free trade agreement with the European Union. South Africa's hinge position between developed and developing worlds is seen as a source of both problems and opportunities. In Africa it faces daunting challenges in the pursuit of an African Renaissance.