Abstract
This article presents first on the pattern of general Russian exports to 16 states in Southern Africa, considered by regime type, to determine whether Russia's commercial ties have been proportionally greater with authoritarian, democratic, or hybrid regimes. Deepening the analysis, the study further examines Southern African arms imports from Russia by regime type, cognizant of the politically sensitive and potentially telling nature of trade in arms when considered alongside regime type. The findings indicate a potential 'differentiated courtship' between Russia and Southern Africa's authoritarian and hybrid regimes. Respectively, Russia's overall trade was concentrated among democracies, authoritarian regimes and hybrid regimes. On the other hand, Russian arms exports as a product subset were purchased by authoritarian regimes at a magnitude slightly beyond that regime type's proportion of the Southern African regional GDP. Relatedly, 66% of all hybrid regimes purchased Russian arms, evincing the highest frequency of importing Russian arms (albeit at small dollar amounts) among all three regimes.