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published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Politics and Public Administration / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Chinese Historical Studies / Master / Master of Arts

The present study attempts to understand the shift that occurred in Saudi-British relations by the year 1953. The tracing of such a shift is dealt with by investigating the development of these relations from 1939 and through to 1953.The research is drawn upon a documentary diplomatic history method reinforced by an analytical approach. Within the framework of analysis, the Realism approach to international politics is selected. Certain assumptions that most of - classical and modern - Realists agreed upon are in use, specifically the state-centric assumption, the rationality assumption, the unitary assumption, the anarchic assumption, and the security assumption. As is clear from existing secondary sources, Saudi Arabia and Britain enjoyed a kind of special relationship in the early 1940s, but by the last year of King Ibn Saud's reign (1953) these two states' relations had deteriorated into severe conflict. Though some existing sources have attempted to shed some light on that development, their findings are indeed modest. In fact, none of this literature has studied the topic from a purely Saudi-British perspective, nor has any of it explored and analysed the matter with the depth that it deserves. By focusing on Saudi-British relations the chapters of this thesis are endeavouring to answer profoundly a variety of questions that affected the main course of these relations. By questioning the impact of certain issues on Saudi-Anglo relations - such that of Saudi-US relations, the security concept, the Saudi-Hashemite problem, and the frontier conflict - the thesis will address its main theme.

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Arts, University of Witwatersrand for the degree of Master of Arts. Johannesburg, October 1995. / GR2017

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, 2006. / This study examines foreign policy decision-making processes of the South African government relating to African crises in the period 1994 to 2002. It takes as its point of departure the question of who makes foreign policy, how, and to what effect. The theory relating to foreign policy and public policy gives rise to a variety of models to explain policy formation and in particular decision making in government. From the survey, three models developed by Graham Allison – the rational actor, organisational behaviour, and governmental politics models – are selected to analyse and better understand South African foreign policy decision-making. Foreign policy decision making relating to crises in Nigeria (1995), Lesotho (1998) and Zimbabwe (2000-2002) are examined. The question in each case is which model best helps to enlighten our understanding of the South African foreign policy response to the perceived crisis. Case study materials were gathered by means of primary and secondary literature as well as open, semi-structured interviews with key individuals involved in relevant policy formation processes. Prior to the analysis of decision making the study constructs a view of the institutional settings of post-apartheid foreign policy making, in particular identifying actors and process, and provides a short contextualisation of the crises in Nigeria, Lesotho and Zimbabwe. The study concludes that public policy making ought to be seen as a political problem solving activity in the face of complexity rather than a logical process involving wellinformed calculations by rational actors who seek to maximise economic utility, political power, or organisational effectives. It supports the view that reliance on the dominant rational actor model is inadequate to explain a foreign policy decision or event. Although of limited use it nevertheless acts to clarify issues, such as broad objectives (actions to achieve peace and stability in Africa as well as the promotion of national interests). Little x evidence emerges to suggest that foreign policy decisions can be understood as outputs of large organisations functioning according to regular patterns of behaviour (such as the Presidency or department of foreign affairs). To the contrary, in the years immediately following 1994, senior governmental decision makers were faced with inadequate, inappropriate or malfunctioning organisational settings and procedures, leading to choices being made by a small circle. The governmental politics model assists in identifying, in all three cases, the lack of an ‘action channel’ – that is, a process to allow for the aggregation of competing perceptions and preferences for making decisions and taking action. Whether institutional overhaul (integrated governance, the cluster system, policy frameworks and a National Security Council) improved matters in later years could not be fully determined. The study found that the governmental politics model was difficult to operationalise because certain data relating to decision making processes remain confidential. The study concludes with recommendations regarding the application of Allison’s models in the South African setting.