Consistency and inconsistencies in South African foreign policy

Abstract

During the presidency of Nelson Mandela from 1994 to 1999, foreign diplomats noted wryly and South African commentators complained loudly that Pretoria did not have a coherent foreign policy. There were several reasons for the ad hoc and often haphazard approach. The new government was inexperienced and preoccupied with the domestic imperatives of national reconciliation and the transformation of state departments; the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alfred Nzo, was sorely lacking in dynamism and vision; and the apartheid-era officials who still dominated the Department of Foreign Affairs were dazzled by the light of democracy and an open world with high expectations of South Africa. Moreover, these officials repudiated the need for a comprehensive and systematic foreign policy. At a conference in Johannesburg in 1998 I heard one of them insist that whereas defence policy was like an ocean liner that should not change direction quickly and frequently, foreign policy was like a windsurfer that should be able to turn on its axis as the wind changed! A number of analysts believe that foreign policy under President Mbeki continues to lack coherence. Paul-Henri Bischoff characterizes the policy as ambiguous, 1 and Paul Williams describes it as an 'eclectic synthesis of neorealist and neo-liberal principles'. 2 Jack Spence suggests that the government's inclination to solve problems as they arise, rather than be guided by critical and principled perspectives, derives from the nature of international affairs: critics who look for coherence and consistency in a well-structured foreign policy underestimate contingent and unforeseen factors and the developments and forces that lie outside the control of even the most skilful bureaucracy and political class. 3 Spence quotes James Mayall as saying that 'most countries make * This article is based on a paper presented at a Chatham House panel discussion on 10 Nov. 2004. 1 Paul-Henri Bischoff, 'External and domestic sources of foreign policy ambiguity: South African foreign policy and the projection of pluralist middle power',

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