In addition to commemorating 30 years of South Africa’s democracy, 2024 saw the country take a historic step toward democratic consolidation with the establishment of its Government of National Unity. Moreover, South Africa’s 30-year-old democratic adulthood comes at a critical juncture in international relations. The glaring inherent contradictions associated with the dominant global liberal orthodoxy can no longer be ignored. The world system is no closer to achieving a peaceful and prosperous international society of states than in 1989, when Francis Fukuyama, in his famously penned essay The End of History?, declared that liberalism was the final stage of mankind’s ideological evolution.
Rather, the global community is becoming increasingly divided, both ideologically and materially, as it moves closer to multipolarity. This has been accompanied by a rise in geopolitical tensions. A newly launched special issue of the South African Journal of International Affairs spans several major themes in its reflections on South Africa’s foreign policy at the 30-year mark and offers insights into the future trajectory under Pretoria’s seventh administration and beyond. Articles consider South Africa’s foreign policy evolution and strategic positioning at 30 years, the country’s role in peace and security, and African agency in a changing global order, as well as how internal and domestic political dynamics shape South Africa’s external behaviour, including Pretoria’s policy of ‘non-alignment’.
Guest editors and authors discussed the implications and future trajectory of South African foreign policy.
Speakers
- Dr Marcel Nagar, Political Studies Lecturer, University of the Western Cape
- Dr Lisa Otto, Associate Professor at the University of Johannesburg and Interim Research Lead of the SARChI Chair: African Diplomacy and Foreign Policy
- Dr Tinashe Sithole, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Johannesburg
Moderator
- Dr Martha Bridgman, Editor-in-Chief of the South African Journal of International Affairs
Watch the recording below:
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