Maxi Schoeman

South Africa in the company of giants: the search for leadership in a transforming global order

South Africa, the continental economic giant and self-appointed spokesman for African development, is finding its distinctive national voice. Emboldened by the invitation to join the BRICS grouping, its membership of the G20 and a second term on the UN Security Council, Pretoria is beginning to capitalize on the decade of continental and global activism undertaken by Thabo Mbeki to assume a position of leadership. Gone is the defensive posturing which characterized much of the ANCs post-apartheid foreign policy, replaced by an unashamed claim to African leadership. The result is that South Africa is exercising a stronger hand in continental affairs, ranging from a significant contribution to state-building in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan, to an unprecedented assertiveness on Zimbabwe. But this new assertiveness remains constrained by three factors: the unresolved issue of identity, a host of domestic constraints linked to material capabilities and internal politics, and the divisive continental reaction to South African leadership. These factors continue to inhibit the countrys ability to translate its international ambitions and global recognition into a concrete set of foreign policy achievements.

Of BRICs and mortar : the growing relations between Africa and the global South

The ambitions of the global South for a larger share of global wealth and political power are at least partly being played out on the African continent. The increasing Africa--South relations seem to indicate a relative decline in Africa--North ties, with the shift in Africas trade relations from North to South resulting in trade creation rather than trade diversion. The South partners are also providing much needed infrastructure development assistance to the continent. Politically, these relations are formalised in a host of frameworks and associations and operate in fundamentally different ways from those between Africa and its erstwhile colonial masters. It is doubtful, though, to what extent Africas capacity to influence the global agenda is strengthened, especially given that not a single African country is (yet) a member of the ‘South Big Four’, the BRICs.

Southern African Development Community as Regional Peacekeeper: Myth or Reality?

ABSTRACT This article pays attention to the ability of Southern African Development Community as a subregional organization to provide peace and security within and between its members, using the conflicts and interventions in Lesotho and the Democratic Republic of the Congo as case studies. It pays particular attention to the differences between official versions of involvement and operational experiences and to whose security is protected—that of states, or that of the people (human security)? It concludes that although the Southern African Development Community region cannot be described as a zone of war, there is nevertheless no genuine capacity for promoting the well-being of the people of the region and that the Southern African Development Community is inherently a sovereignty-boosting form of regional governance rather than an ascending security community.

Ursula van Beek and Edmund Wnuk-Lipinski, eds. Democracy Under Stress: The Global Crisis and Beyond

ambiguous, to the detriment of policy coherence and consistency. A subsequent memorandum of understanding between the AU and RECs has eased some of the problems of coordination, but it will take a long time before there is clarity about the future of the AEC. Gaddafi played a domineering and, some say, a ‘spoiler’ role in the formation of the AU. His recent demise is a momentous event that may shape the fortunes of the AU for many years to come. More uncertain is the outlook for the plans that Gaddafi proposed between 2005 and 2009 to transform the AU into an authority with more coordinative powers in most areas of competence. Although most African countries resisted these entreaties, Gaddafi had a large following across Africa, particularly among small states which he supported financially. Whether these states will continue to pursue this agenda is not currently clear. Equally uncertain is whether the new leaders in Tripoli will continue to play a major role in Africa’s international relations given the AU’s belated recognition of the government, which has also criticised Gaddafi’s Africa policy. Yet, whatever the trajectory that emerges in Libya and North Africa as a whole, things have changed irrevocably. Promoting the African Union gives a picture of an important chapter in Africa’s international relations that is only now beginning to unfold as we witness the changes in North Africa. This book contributes to a fuller understanding of the actors, processes and outcomes of multilateral institution-building in Africa over the past 20 years and should be read by all who are interested in this period.

The UN and Regional Organisations: Finding a Balance Between the UN and the African Union in Dealing with Peace and Security in Africa

The world has come a long way since the adoption of the UN Charter and the initial debate in the early 1940s on the place of regionalism in dealing with international peace and security. The wording of Chapter VIII resulted over time in various interpretations of the nature of the relationship between the UN and regional organisations involved in regional conflicts. These ambiguities are based on references to ‘recognising and/or authorising’ actions of regional organisations in maintaining or restoring peace and security. Since the end of the Cold War, though, and the rise of ideas regarding the global governance of peace and security, increasing attention has been paid to this relationship and ways in which to improve, encourage and develop more effective joint strategies for conflict prevention, peacekeeping and peace building. In this regard, the African continent, as a region experiencing what at times seem to be endemic insecurity, incidences of state failure, human suffering and armed conflict, has become a particular focus of attempts at strengthening UN-regional relations. In March 2007, South Africa took the initiative, as Security Council president at the time, to hold an open debate on the UN’s relationship with regional organisations and in particular the African Union in the maintenance of peace and security and prevention of armed conflict.