South Africa in North Africa: Egypt, Algeria, Libya and Tunisia

in: Adekeye Adebajo / Kudrat Virk (eds.), Foreign policy in post-apartheid South Africa: security, diplomacy and trade, London: I.B. Tauris, 237-256

ISBN: 978-1-78831-082-6
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The chapter asks whether, and how, South Africa has been able to reformulate its foreign policy towards North Africa in response to the political and social upheavals that have gripped the sub-region since 2011. It focuses on how South Africa's foreign policy principles-especially the tension between supporting democracy and rejecting 'regime change' by force- and its tendency to export the country's domestic model of transition have affected Pretoria's approach to the political unrest in North Africa. It contrasts the state's ambivalent approach towards North Africa uprisings with the strong sense of solidarity projected by South Africa's civil society organisations and assesses the impact of the uprisings on the interest of the South African corporations in the region. It concludes with recommending a policy agenda for a more active South African foreign policy in a turbulent North Africa.