Promoting peace, security and development in Africa: challenges, and constraints to South Africa’s African Agenda

The purpose of this research project is to (further) explore aspects of South Africa’s African policy over the past two decades, specifically within the frameworks of its African Agenda and its white paper on foreign policy, The Diplomacy of Ubuntu. The project examines a number of challenges and constraints that South Africa has encountered (and continues to be confronted with) in its quest to ‘build a better world’ and seeks to explain these with a view to promote a better understanding of the country’s foreign policy choices and implementation. It is conceived of as a reflection on the foreign policy of an emerging power in a global context and a regional power in a continental context with the reflections structured through a series of questions based on the findings of my recent research on the country’s foreign policy (see attached list of publications and papers). The aim is to contribute to a growing body of knowledge about, on the one hand, South Africa’s foreign policy, and, on the other hand, the foreign policy challenges and constraints experienced by emerging powers in an era in which the international political system is undergoing major power shifts. These power shifts also resonate in contemporary debates in disciplines relevant to the studying of international politics, viz. International Relations, Security Studies and Peace Studies.