Nuanced balancing act: South Africa's national and international interests and its 'African agenda'

Abstract

Since apartheid ended, much of South Africa's positioning on the world stage has been informed by what has been described as an Afrocentric approach to foreign relations. This paper examines the central question of whether or not the South African government's 'African Agenda' and the diplomacy of 'Ubuntu' articulated by the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco), are realistic strategies that take adequate account of South Africa's national interests as related to the human and social wellbeing of its people as provided for in the preamble of the 1996 constitution.