Stuck in Middle GEAR: South Africa’s Post-Apartheid Foreign Relations

127 Pages·2001·1.714 MB·English

by  Ian Taylor

Stuck in Middle GEAR

South Africa's Post-Apartheid
Foreign Relations
Ian Taylor
In memory of my father, Edwin Raymond Taylor (1943-1994)

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Acronyms xi
Introduction
1. Hegemony, Middlepowermanship and Multilateralism I 1
2. Neoliberalism as a Hegemonic Project 23
3. Neoliberalism, Hegemony and Post-Apartheid South Africa 37
4. From Redistribution to Hegemonic Norms: Constraints and Contradictions 57
5. Multilateral ism, Middlepowermanship and Neoliberalism: South African Foreign Policy 85
6. South Africa and the World Trade Organisation 93
7. South Africa and the Cairns Group 113
8. South Africa and UNCTAD IX 123
9. South Africa and the Nonaligned Movement 135
10. South Africa and the Commonwealth 151
1 I . Middlepowermanship and the Continuing Compromise 161
Bibliography 169
Index 189

Acknowledgments
This study was originally written whilst a student in the Department of Political Science, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa. In the writing
and finalising of it I had the good fortune to receive the advice and encouragement of Philip Net. His insightful criticism, comments and questions
have always been thought-provoking and of great help, and he has strongly influenced this work. The intellectual rigour of his own work sets a high
standard to which I can but aspire. I would like to take this opportunity to publicly offer him my profound thanks and gratitude and to thank him for
taking a chance on a stranger from Hong Kong and providing me the opportunity to study in, and begin to understand, South Africa.
I would also like to thank Andrew Cooper of the University of Waterloo, Canada, and Sampie Terreblanche of the Department of
Economics, University of Stellenbosch, for critically examining this work when it was at the thesis stage and for providing very useful comments.
I have accumulated a number of debts in writing this book. In helping me clarify some of my initial ideas, I first wish to thank Paul
Williams of the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, United Kingdom, who has been a great help and friend. I would also like to acknowledge the
useful discussions I have had with Timothy Shaw (Dalhousie University, Canada) and Peter Vale (University of the Western Cape, South Africa).
Both have influenced me in different ways (I hope for the better), and I would like to thank them.
I thank Kenneth Good of the University of Botswana, Adam Habib of the University of Durban-Westville, South Africa and Mark Neufeld
at Trent University, Canada, for supplying me with a number of their unpublished papers and manuscripts. I would also like to acknowledge and
thank those people who have given me different insights into, and helped me try and understand, modern South African society. In particular I
would like to thank Willie Breytenbach, Scarlett Cornelissen, Pierre du Toit, Jannie Gagiano, Gavin Geswind, Lloyd Hill, Morne Hoogbaard,
Eduard Jordaan, Hennie Kotze, Anthony Leysens, Nicola Morton, Mondli Mvambi, Xenia Ngwenya, Mzukisi Qobo, Maxi Schoeman, Lisa
Thompson, Alexander Valentine, Ricardo Wessels and especially, Janis van der Westhuizen.
I am grateful to all the people who agreed to be interviewed during the study. Some will not agree with what I have written, but I thank
them all the same.
Acknowledgment and thanks also go to the support staff in the department at Stellenbosch, Frances Jooste and Trevor Crowley, who were
always helpful, friendly and kind to me, and often brightened up my day, as did Wilma Duske and Magda van Niekerk. Stellenbosch librarian
Dirkie Nel was also always helpful and efficient in speedily tracking down references and invaluable in assisting me find various much-needed
sources, for which I am very grateful. My brother Eric and the rest of my family have always been supportive and encouraging, whilst the lads of
Brentford Football Club have provided a weekly supply of motivation/demoralisation, in equal measure.
I am indebted to Michael Hermann at Praeger Publishers, whose enthusiasm for this project made things a lot easier and is really
appreciated. The excellent services of Leslie Billings, production editor at Praeger are also thanked. Shaun Breslin of the University of Warwick,
United Kingdom, provided valuable comments on an earlier manuscript and has been a source of much sound advice and encouragement, as well
as being a good person to be around. Although not directly connected to this work, the wider sense of support, friendship and solidarity provided
by David Black, Morten Boas, Rebecca Davies, Jonathan Duffy, James Hentz, Ewan MacDonald, Jane Parpart, Fredrik Soderbaum and Larry
Swatuk has been really helpful and heartening.
Arriving in South Africa alone was a daunting experience. I wish to thank the Conradie family-Oom Glaeser, Tannie Wenda, Glaeser and
Andre-for taking me under their wing and extending their warm hospitality, which remains deeply appreciated. Also to Dawie van der Vyver for
the relaxing weekends spent on his farm in the Karoo.
Finally I would like to express thanks to my wife Joanne, who was left in Hong Kong finishing her own dcctorate while I embarked on my
work in South Africa. Though the nine months' separation was stressful, I trust it was all worth it in the end. Jo has helped me throughout this
study, and it would have been impossible to complete this work without her support and love. Dioich o galon i ti cariad.