Ubuntu diplomacy: Broadening soft power in an African context

Abstract

Ubuntu is an African philosophical worldview that has increasingly gained prominence since South Africa's democratic transition in 1994. It places emphasis on the world's common humanity and its consequent interdependence. Through content analysis, the article examines the soft power that is inherent in South Africa's foreign policy, as codified in the 2011 White Paper on South African Foreign Policy–Building a Better World: Diplomacy of Ubuntu. In its findings, the article established a distinction between Joseph Nye's original conceptualization of soft power, formulated from a United States realist foreign policy perspective, and the one inherent in South Africa's humanist foreign policy guided by the philosophy of Ubuntu. This distinction is premised on the geopolitical disparities between the two nations. The article further examines South Africa's wielding of soft power within the African continent, the first audience of the country's diplomacy of Ubuntu.

To What Cost to its Continental Hegemonic Standpoint: Making Sense of South Africa’s Xenophobia Conundrum Post Democratization

“…Similarly, Madise and Isike (2020) note that this extension of political goodwill is an effort to regain trust and solidarity with its neighboring states and further demonstrate its commitment to the continent's development. South Africa has vast global personalities scattered within sports, education, music, and so forth.…”

“…Ubuntu pertains to an African philosophy that emphasizes the recognition of common humanity among the people of Africa and has its origins across Africa mostly in the Southern and Eastern parts of the continent(Madise & Isike, 2020).…”