SAJIA Special Issue Vol 32.4 Analyses South African Foreign Policy at 30 Years: Non-Alignment in a Volatile World

SAJIA Volume 32.4 is now available on the Taylor & Francis website.

The year 2024 signalled a significant milestone for South Africa: it marked 30 years of South Africa’s democratic political system and witnessed South Africa taking a momentous step towards democratic consolidation through the formation of its Government of National Unity (GNU). This followed the outcome of the May 2024 national elections in which the African National Congress (ANC) received less than 40% of the electoral vote. While not its first GNU, the current coalition government brings an already factionalised ANC together with ten political parties, all of whom have varying, and at times competing, foreign policy stances.

Moreover, South Africa’s entry into democratic adulthood at 30 years comes at a critical juncture in international relations. The international system has been irrevocably transformed. 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. Multilateralism and international law are being eroded as states are becoming increasingly inward-looking. There has also been the outbreak and escalation of two major wars, the Russo-Ukrainian and Israel-Hamas wars. Both conflicts have seen the international community divided around matters of state sovereignty, genocide, gross human rights violations and terrorism. There has been an ever-growing strain on US-China relations stemming from the 2018 trade war, in which the administration of US President Donald Trump announced extensive tariffs. For Pretoria, in Trump’s second administration, 2025 saw the souring of relations between South Africa and the US, notably including unfounded accusations of white genocide, the withdrawal of foreign aid and a hefty 30% tariff on goods.

Taking the above into consideration, South Africa’s seventh administration faces the enormous task of charting a foreign policy course that is equal parts strategic and pragmatic, as well as principled, reformist, developmental and democratic.

This special issue combines articles that emerged from a conference on ‘South African foreign policy at 30: Strengths, challenges, lessons and way forward’ with subsequent article submissions on relevant topics. The conference was organised by the South African Research Chair Initiative in African Diplomacy and Foreign Policy in collaboration with the Centre for African Diplomacy and Leadership at the University of Johannesburg in September 2024. It brought together key speakers and participants from government, higher education, civil society and the private sector who engaged in a series of forward-looking dialogues and presentations on the achievements and challenges of South Africa’s foreign policy after 30 years of multiparty democratic existence.

The special issue, edited by Dr Martha Bridgman of SAIIA with guest editors Dr Lisa Otto of UJ and Dr Marcel Nagar of UWC, covers several major themes reflecting on South Africa’s foreign policy at 30 years, as well as normative insights into the future trajectory of South Africa’s foreign policy in the seventh administration and beyond. These are: 1) South Africa’s foreign policy evolution and strategic positioning at 30 years; 2) peace, security and African agency in a changing global order; and 3) how internal and domestic political dynamics shape South Africa’s external behaviour. The series of research articles from diverse authors is complemented by a set of book reviews underpinning the theme. Several of these are free to view through February 2026.