From the outside in: Domestic actors and South Africa’s foreign policy - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1928232426 ISBN 13: 9781928232421

Publisher: Jacana Media (Pty) Ltd, 2017

Synopsis

What is South Africa’s foreign policy, who makes it and why does it matter? These are the varied questions that scholarship has grappled with following South Africa’s triumphant return to the global stage in 1994. In this edited volume, the authors assess the position and input of actors beyond the traditional structures of the Presidency and the department of international relations and cooperation, most notably civil society actors in foreign policy decision-making. In an environment where domestic actors are argued to be found increasingly on the outside of policy decision-making circles, this book brings back into the fold the discussion of the value of participation.

In looking at foreign policy through the different standpoints of other government departments, parliament, labour, business, the African National Congress (ANC), civil society and the role of gender, the chapters offer insights into how South Africa’s foreign policy is understood and how these actors seek an input in its direction. It is this engagement that ultimately makes foreign policy matter to all South Africans as the country moves forward in a turbid international environment.

About this title

About the Author

Professor Chris Landsberg holds the SARChI Chair of African Diplomacy and Foreign Policy at the University of Johannesburg (UJ), and is a senior associate at the UJ School of Leadership. He is the former head of the department of politics and international relations at UJ. Prof Landsberg was educated at the Rand Afrikaans University (now University of Johannesburg); Rhodes; and Oxford, and holds an MPhil and DPhil international relations degrees (Oxon). He was as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, and is a former Hamburg Fellow at Stanford University, United States (US). Previously he was director of the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) in Johannesburg, and co-founder and former co-director of the Centre for Africa’s International Relations at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa. Dr Lesley Masters is a senior researcher and lecturer at the NRF Chair of African Diplomacy and Foreign Policy at UJ. Prior to this she was a senior researcher at the Institute for Global Dialogue (IGD), responsible for managing projects on foreign policy and diplomacy. She holds a PhD in international relations from the University of Leicester. She has edited books on South African foreign policy and natural resource governance, and served as joint guest editor of a special issue of the Journal for Contemporary History on African Diplomacy, and a special issue of the South African Journal of International Affairs.

Edition details

• Publisher: Jacana Media (Pty) Ltd
• Publication date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1928232426
• ISBN 13: 9781928232421
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224
• Editor: Landsberg Chris, Masters Lesley