Change and continuity in the foreign policy of South Africa in the post-apartheid period

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2002

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Şahin, Hasan Anka

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It cannot be disputed that South Africa's transition from white minority rule to multiracial democracy is one of the great turning points in recent history. With the first all-races elections of 1994 and the negotiation process that led up to it, the people of South Africa demonstrated to the international community the possibility of bringing about a win-win situation for a conflict which had until then seemed impossible to resolve by peaceful means. At the end of this experience, South Africa emerged as a model democracy both for Africa and for the world at large. This thesis is a study of South Africa's foreign policy in the post-apartheid era. It argues that any study of South Africa's foreign policy is incomplete if the continuities from the apartheid regime to the existing democratic system are not located and analyzed. This is especially true for the five foreign policy areas that the thesis identifies to discuss in detail, namely, South Africa's place in the international political economy, arms manufacturing and sales, South Africa's mperception of and relations with the West, migration and South Africa's regional hegemony. Through its study of change and continuity, the thesis establishes the new patterns to South Africa's foreign policy and concludes that certain similarities are visible when it comes to why certain aspects of South Africa's foreign policy have or have not undergone significant change. The thesis argues that both the changes and the continuities have been caused mainly by practical and economic concerns.

Subject Keywords

Apartheid, South Africa, Democratization, Foreign policy, Change and continuity

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/13304

Collections

Graduate School of Social Sciences, Thesis

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Citation Formats

H. A. Şahin, “Change and continuity in the foreign policy of South Africa in the post-apartheid period,” M.S. - Master of Science, Middle East Technical University, 2002.