Thesis (M. A. (International Politics)) -- University of Limpopo, 2020 / South Africa’s foreign policy towards the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, particularly during Thabo Mbeki’s tenure, has received substantial scholarly attention. Similarly, South Africa’s domestic political arena has been a subject of significant scholarly inquiry during Jacob Zuma’s tenure. Understandably, when one considers the domestic scandals that clouded Zuma’s presidency, the foreign policy of the Zuma administration, specifically towards the SADC region, has received underwhelming scholarly attention. Therefore, the present study is a contribution to the limited available studies on the Zuma administration’s foreign policy towards the SADC region. Noting the importance of the DRC in SADC region international relations, the DRC is used as a case study. The DRC’s experience of a seemingly ceaseless or recurrent conflict makes it a suitable case for the assessment of the Zuma administration’s foreign policy. This is because it would be difficult for a South Africa that is largely viewed as the SADC region’s regional leader to remain indifferent while a fellow SADC member state experiences continuous instability. To achieve its objectives, the study employed document review as a data collection method. The study found that South Africa under Zuma prioritised economic diplomacy. As such, it actively participated in the neutralisation, through military means, of rebel groups in the DRC. It would not be farfetched to submit that this was an attempt to create an environment that is more conducive to economic activity in the DRC so as to improve economic relations between the two countries. Keywords: South Africa, SADC, Foreign Policy, Democratic Republic of Congo, Zuma, Afrocentricity, Southern Africa.

This thesis contends from the time of September 1940 to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States and Japan offered each no workable concessions that might have deterred war. A stalemate was finally established between the two countries. The position of the Japanese nation was to expand and control "Greater East-Asia," while the position the United States held was one that claimed all nations should uphold certain basic principles of democracy, that all nations should honor the sanctity of treaties," and that they should treat neighboring countries in a friendly fashion. This thesis also contends that Yosuke Matsuoka used his position as Foreign Minister of Japan to determine policy for the entire nation. Matsuoka led Japan in such a way that a settlement of differences between the United States and his country was not attainable through diplomatic talks. Even after Matsuoka had been removed from his position, the Supreme Command was determined to prepare for war and at the same time carry on diplomatic discussions with the United States. The only possible way that war could have been avoided was if one of the two nations had been willing to break the stalemate by giving in to the demands of the other. Neither was willing to compromise.

Thesis (M. A. (International Politics)) -- University of Limpopo, 2021 / The relations between France and South Africa dates to +-330 years ago but the year that France renounced its diplomatic collaboration with South Africa was in 1981. Then in 1994 following the new democratic dispensation in South Africa, France started normalising its diplomatic relations with the new government. By the end of 1994 South Africa had France as its 14th biggest trading partner with a total trade of R3712 millions. Moving from that, the central question grappled within this research is that is the relations between France and South Africa a win-win or win-lose one? This research argues that is it a win-lose as France is the one that continues to benefit more compared to South Africa on various partnership which will be discussed further in the research. With regards to the theoretical framework, Afrocentricity was deemed suited as it gives Africans the platform to view issues through African experiences and perspective. The latter should also be understood within the context that a lot of literature on the topic at hand has been written using Eurocentric perceptive thus this research utilised Afrocentricity. Methodologically, this research will be solely relaying on secondary materials such as journal articles, newspapers as well as policy briefs and reports.

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This study examines the fundamental determinants of bilateral trade flows between South Africa and BRIC countries. This is done by exploring the magnitude of exports among these countries. The Gravity model approach is used as the preferred theoretical framework in explaining and evaluating successfully the bilateral trade flows between South Africa and BRIC countries The empirical part of this study uses panel data methodology covering the time period 2000-2012 and incorporates the five BRICS economies in the sample. The results of the regressions are subject to panel diagnostic test procedures. The study reveals that, on the one hand, there are positive and significant relationships between South African export flows with the BRICs and distance, language dummy, the BRICs’ GDP, the BRICs’ openness and population in South Africa. On the other hand, GDP in South Africa, real exchange rate and time dummy are found to be negatively related to export flows. / Economics / M. Com. (Economics)

This study uses annual data for the period 1975-2014 for South Africa and Botswana, and 1979-2013 for Lesotho to examine empirically the impact of trade openness on economic growth in these three South African Customs Union (SACU) countries. The motivation for this study is that SACU countries are governed by the common agreement for the union that oversees the movement of goods that enter the SACU area. However, although these countries are in a com-mon union, they have quite different levels of development. Based on the country’s level of development, Lesotho is a lower middle-income and least developed country, whereas Botswana and South Africa are upper middle-income economies. Thus, these disparities in the levels of economic development of SACU countries i are expected to have different implications in relation to the extent to which trade openness affects economic growth. It is within this background that the current study seeks to examine what impact trade openness has on economic growth in each of the three selected countries. To check the robustness of the empirical results, this study uses four equations based on four different indicators of trade openness to examine the linkage between trade openness and economic growth. While Equation 1, Equation 2 and Equation 3 employ trade-based indicators of openness, Equation 4 uses a modified version of the UNCTAD (2012a) trade openness index that incorporates differences in country size and geography. Using the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach to cointegration and error-correction modelling, the study found that the impact of trade openness on economic growth varies across the three SACU countries. Based on the results for the first three equations, the study found that trade openness has a positive impact on economic growth in South Africa and Botswana, whereas it has no significant impact on economic growth in Lesotho. Based on Equation 4 results, the study found that after taking the differences in country size and geography into account, trade openness has a positive impact on economic growth in Botswana, but an insignificant impact in South Africa and Lesotho. For South Africa and Botswana, the main recommendation from this study is that policy makers should pursue policies that promote total trade to increase economic growth in both the short and the long run. For Lesotho, the study recommends, among other things, the adoption of policies aimed at enhancing human capital and infrastructural development as well as the broadening of exports, so as to enable the economy to grow to a threshold level necessary for the realisation of significant gains from trade. / Economics / Ph. D. (Economics)

This study examines the fundamental determinants of bilateral trade flows between South Africa and BRIC countries. This is done by exploring the magnitude of exports among these countries. The Gravity model approach is used as the preferred theoretical framework in explaining and evaluating successfully the bilateral trade flows between South Africa and BRIC countries The empirical part of this study uses panel data methodology covering the time period 2000-2012 and incorporates the five BRICS economies in the sample. The results of the regressions are subject to panel diagnostic test procedures. The study reveals that, on the one hand, there are positive and significant relationships between South African export flows with the BRICs and distance, language dummy, the BRICs’ GDP, the BRICs’ openness and population in South Africa. On the other hand, GDP in South Africa, real exchange rate and time dummy are found to be negatively related to export flows. / Economics / M. Com. (Economics)

Doctorat en philosophie et lettres / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Pas de résumé / Doctorat en droit / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Risks faced by South African offshore investors is a study that seeks to identify and rank in order of importance the risks that are faced by South African offshore investors. As a global player, South African investment institutions exchange trades with institutions in other countries. These trades are, however, not risk free. Trading in foreign markets can lead to institutions collapsing if their investment plans are not well formulated. There are many factors to consider when planning an offshore investment. For example, what products to invest in, which countries to invest in, why invest in such countries or institutions, how long is the investment going to be, and what are the expected returns, taking into account all the risks involved. All these questions and many others should be answered before investing offshore. South African investment brokers registered with the Financial Services Board and licensed to trade offshore were selected as the target population to respond to a questionnaire designed for this study. A web-based questionnaire using LimeSurvey was used to collate data from the respondents. The SPSS statistical methodology was used for the analysis from where recommendations and conclusions were drawn. / Business Management / M. Com. (Business Management)