Although much has been written about South African foreign policy very little focus has been on the African perspective in analysing policy actions. Furthermore, South Africa has regularly been criticised for being consistent in its criticism of Israel but inconsistent in other human rights issues. This so-called contradiction in South Africa’s foreign policy on Israel in relation to the Palestinian question, when compared to other human rights’ issues, demands an in-depth analysis of the decisions taken by the South African government that is not limited to rigid, pro-West paradigms. South Africa post-1994 is characterised by a context that includes historical experiences of injustice, abuse, apartheid, colonialism, racial discrimination and racial subjugation. It is a country whose leaders and people understand the notion of human indignity because of the impact of supremacist ideologies. The South African government, based on historical, practical and moral (human rights) grounds has indicated its committed support for the Palestinian struggle against Israeli apartheid and occupation. Accordingly, South Africa’s foreign policy stance on Israel has been consistent since 1994, although until 2008, it offered little in terms of real (punitive or sanctioning) action against Israel. Although the focus of this paper is on the Zuma government’s foreign policy on Israel in relation to the Palestinian question, a discussion on pre-1994 South Africa’s symbiotic relations with Israel is included considering the impact of historical experiences in decision making. This study also considers the foreign policy of the Mandela and Mbeki governments on the Palestinian issue which is important in providing a context to the understanding regarding the purported shift and contestation in the Zuma government’s foreign policy on Israel in relation to the Palestinian question. This shift is analysed by highlighting specific foreign policy actions and the role of key actors in attempting to influence those policy actions. From an academic perspective, the author considers four key areas which include a) human rights, b) foreign policy, c) human rights and ethics in foreign policy and d) global apartheid, foreign policy and human rights which are integrated within the structures of analytic eclecticism allowing for multiple levels of analysis. / Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / gm2015 / Centre for Human Rights / LLM / Unrestricted

Ao longo destes quase vinte anos após o fim do apartheid, é perceptível que a África do Sul se tornou cada vez mais presente no continente africano. Seja na esfera econômica e/ou na política, tanto no âmbito regional quanto continental, é fato que o interesse em atuar na África passou a ser preponderante para a política externa sul-africana. Em contrapartida a tal envolvimento, as respostas por parte de alguns países africanos nem sempre foram às esperadas por Pretoria, uma vez que a inserção sul-africana esteve acompanhada por desconfianças e questionamentos acerca do papel, das oportunidades e dos interesses sul- africanos no continente. Nesse sentido, é baseado nesta complexa interação que o trabalho em referência tem como objetivo central analisar a política externa da África do Sul para o continente africano. Através de revisão bibliográfica de caráter variado, como relatórios, discursos presidenciais, documentos oficiais advindos de Organizações Internacionais e do governo sul-africano, livros e artigos encontrados em Centros de Estudos Africanos e em Revistas acadêmicas especializadas na área, pretende-se defender a hipótese de que a África do Sul pós-apartheid abriu mão de uma possível tendência hegemônica e voltou-se a pacificação e ao desenvolvimento do continente. / During almost the past 20 years after the end of apartheid, South Africa has affirmed its presence more and more in African continent. In the economic and political sphere, either in regional scope or continental one, we can notice that the interest in acting in Africa has become predominant in South African foreign affairs. On the other hand, the relationships with some African countries and their reactions were not always the expected ones, considering that the South African insertion was attended by distrust and questioning about the South African role, opportunities and interests in the continent. In this sense, it is based on this complex dynamic that the following work presents the main objective of analyzing the foreign policy of South Africa into the post-apartheid and defend that the country gave up on a possible hegemonic approach to focus on the pacification and development of the continent. The methodology was worked through a revision of a variety of bibliography, such as reports, official documents from South African government and related International Organizations, books and articles from Center of Africa Studies and specialized publishers in this mentioned topic.

Ao longo destes quase vinte anos após o fim do apartheid, é perceptível que a África do Sul se tornou cada vez mais presente no continente africano. Seja na esfera econômica e/ou na política, tanto no âmbito regional quanto continental, é fato que o interesse em atuar na África passou a ser preponderante para a política externa sul-africana. Em contrapartida a tal envolvimento, as respostas por parte de alguns países africanos nem sempre foram às esperadas por Pretoria, uma vez que a inserção sul-africana esteve acompanhada por desconfianças e questionamentos acerca do papel, das oportunidades e dos interesses sul- africanos no continente. Nesse sentido, é baseado nesta complexa interação que o trabalho em referência tem como objetivo central analisar a política externa da África do Sul para o continente africano. Através de revisão bibliográfica de caráter variado, como relatórios, discursos presidenciais, documentos oficiais advindos de Organizações Internacionais e do governo sul-africano, livros e artigos encontrados em Centros de Estudos Africanos e em Revistas acadêmicas especializadas na área, pretende-se defender a hipótese de que a África do Sul pós-apartheid abriu mão de uma possível tendência hegemônica e voltou-se a pacificação e ao desenvolvimento do continente. / During almost the past 20 years after the end of apartheid, South Africa has affirmed its presence more and more in African continent. In the economic and political sphere, either in regional scope or continental one, we can notice that the interest in acting in Africa has become predominant in South African foreign affairs. On the other hand, the relationships with some African countries and their reactions were not always the expected ones, considering that the South African insertion was attended by distrust and questioning about the South African role, opportunities and interests in the continent. In this sense, it is based on this complex dynamic that the following work presents the main objective of analyzing the foreign policy of South Africa into the post-apartheid and defend that the country gave up on a possible hegemonic approach to focus on the pacification and development of the continent. The methodology was worked through a revision of a variety of bibliography, such as reports, official documents from South African government and related International Organizations, books and articles from Center of Africa Studies and specialized publishers in this mentioned topic.

Ao longo destes quase vinte anos após o fim do apartheid, é perceptível que a África do Sul se tornou cada vez mais presente no continente africano. Seja na esfera econômica e/ou na política, tanto no âmbito regional quanto continental, é fato que o interesse em atuar na África passou a ser preponderante para a política externa sul-africana. Em contrapartida a tal envolvimento, as respostas por parte de alguns países africanos nem sempre foram às esperadas por Pretoria, uma vez que a inserção sul-africana esteve acompanhada por desconfianças e questionamentos acerca do papel, das oportunidades e dos interesses sul- africanos no continente. Nesse sentido, é baseado nesta complexa interação que o trabalho em referência tem como objetivo central analisar a política externa da África do Sul para o continente africano. Através de revisão bibliográfica de caráter variado, como relatórios, discursos presidenciais, documentos oficiais advindos de Organizações Internacionais e do governo sul-africano, livros e artigos encontrados em Centros de Estudos Africanos e em Revistas acadêmicas especializadas na área, pretende-se defender a hipótese de que a África do Sul pós-apartheid abriu mão de uma possível tendência hegemônica e voltou-se a pacificação e ao desenvolvimento do continente. / During almost the past 20 years after the end of apartheid, South Africa has affirmed its presence more and more in African continent. In the economic and political sphere, either in regional scope or continental one, we can notice that the interest in acting in Africa has become predominant in South African foreign affairs. On the other hand, the relationships with some African countries and their reactions were not always the expected ones, considering that the South African insertion was attended by distrust and questioning about the South African role, opportunities and interests in the continent. In this sense, it is based on this complex dynamic that the following work presents the main objective of analyzing the foreign policy of South Africa into the post-apartheid and defend that the country gave up on a possible hegemonic approach to focus on the pacification and development of the continent. The methodology was worked through a revision of a variety of bibliography, such as reports, official documents from South African government and related International Organizations, books and articles from Center of Africa Studies and specialized publishers in this mentioned topic.

The study explains the regional roles of Egypt and South Africa in the last two decades by reference to the state’s relationship with society, a variable that has long been underplayed in international relations and foreign policy literature. It suggests that the different character of this relationship in each country has shaped the opportunities and constraints affecting the foreign policy choices of both the state and societal institutions in the two countries. The study adopts a cross-disciplinary approach using debates on state capacity and its relationship with regime type in comparative politics and political economy to understand and evaluate the two countries' foreign policies in their respective regions. After analysing the impact of state-society relationships on the regional role conceptions of the state and societal actors, the study compares the performance of these actors in two case studies; the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in the case of Egypt and the Zimbabwean crisis in the case of South Africa. It concludes that although the role of each state in resolving its respective regional conflict has been less than effective, the post-apartheid democratic dispensation has provided opportunities for South African social forces to play roles that complemented, checked and balanced the role of the state, compared to their Egyptian counterparts. On the other hand, the soft authoritarian Egyptian state used its role in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict to maintain the international alliances that helped to sustain its domestic control. This constrained the state's foreign policy options. It made marketing peace as 'a strategic choice' and containing resistance movements the priorities of Egypt's intervention in the Palestinian issue. The co-optation of the Egyptian business community and the exclusion of Islamist forces by the state weakened their roles in conflict resolution, depriving the state of tools of effectiveness. In the case of South Africa, racial politics, the ANC's liberation movement psyche, and the domination of the presidency over foreign policy making have hindered the promotion of NEPAD's principles of democracy and respect for human rights in the case of Zimbabwe. However, South African civil society played a crucial role in supporting its Zimbabwean counterpart, holding the South African state accountable to its foreign policy principles and its democratic institutions, and intervening where the state's role was missing or insufficient.