Abstract
The study seeks to understand South Africa’s national interest in Africa between 1999 and 2008, the Mbeki era. It is after all the years in which the African Agenda policy framework emerged and solidified. The thesis takes the policy framework of the ‘African Agenda’ and interrogates the nature, content and manifestation of South Africa’s national interest toward Africa. This is assessed through two primary questions: (1) how is the national interest manifested in South Africa’s foreign policy toward Africa (2), how does South Africa conduct its international relations with the African continent. The study has five key findings, namely; that in the period between 1999 and 2008, the pursuit of the African Agenda was the pursuit of South Africa’s national interest. Largely through practice, South Africa evolved a uniquely South African notion of the national interest at least in so far as Africa is concerned. Such a national interest was defined as and was constituted of following programmes: New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) (development), the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), regional integration and peace and security (peace diplomacy). Secondly, the pursuit South Africa’s conception and manifestation of the national interest straddles a number of theoretical traditions. As the study shows, at times, South Africa’s foreign policy towards Africa combines realism and constructivism, with some uniquely South African transformationalist tendencies. This means that South Africa takes a pragmatic as opposed to a deterministic or ideologically dogmatic approach towards to formulating the national interest. Thirdly, it finds that between 1999 and 2008, the Mbeki years, South Africa’s national interest adopted a responsible and progressive international relations posture emphasising individual country interests, in the context of the collective destiny of the African region. This means that South Africa saw its national interests as intertwined with the continental interests. South Africa’s foreign policy towards Africa combines realism and constructivism, with some uniquely South African transformationalist tendencies...
M.A. (Political Studies)