Volume 4 Number 3
South Africans have recently started debating foreign policy issues with passion. The view exists in Parliament that the Department of Foreign Affairs has not made a strong enough break with past practices. As a result, the financial priorities of the Department, official relations with Taiwan and East Timor, South African arms trade policies, lack of criticism of human rights abuses in Africa and others have been criticised with fervour.
This occurs against the background of a strong call from many quarters inside the country for South Africa, and its President in particular, to play a leading role to assist in resolving intractable problems. These could include the ongoing altercation between religious groups in Northern Ireland, and between the USA and Cuba, involvement in Zaire, and even intervention in the dispute with Libya regarding the Lockerbie bombing. South Africa should, therefore adopt a so-called ‘principled’ foreign policy. This follows the contention that South Africa has achieved an international moral high ground through its domestic settlement in establishing the ‘miracle rainbow nation’. The country, therefore, should start an international reform process whereby foreign policy is conducted in accordance with a higher morality than mere self-interest - to advance the global cause of freedom, dignity and disarmament.
Clearly South Africans will have to decide on the relative priority of economic development, regional stability, human rights and morality. There is little doubt that South Africa should pursue the cause of democratisation and stability, both regionally and further abroad. But the world is imperfect and complex and there are many ways in which to pursue these goals: through quiet diplomacy, public statements, constructive engagement, dialogue or isolation. Each of these methods requires careful consideration of the employment of limited resources and the important question of national interests. More importantly, the degree to which South Africa places its economic relations in a position of priority, is bound to present the Government and its advisors with difficult decisions.
Increasingly, new thinkers world-wide question the classical realist tradition that has placed the state in a central position within the international community. Further developments in feminist and post-modernist thought, both of which aim at deconstructing existing theories of power and centrality, provide new perspectives on the nature of international relations, but have yet to offer an alternative theory to guide action in the world we live in. The issue of national interest is, at least in academia, a contested area, even if the world is still dominated by realist thinking and practice.
But, ultimately, even the moral persuasion of a Mandela will not prevail if South Africa does not succeed in consolidating democracy at home, creating and maintaining economic growth and playing a sensible stabilising role in the region. Moral persuasion is of little value if your backyard is a mess. It is therefore on these priorities that South African foreign policy should concentrate, taking care not to overextend itself and avoiding the temptation to become involved in problems and challenges that could detract from the massive efforts that will be required to establish Southern Africa on a path to growth and stability.
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