Nganje, F. and Letshele, L. (2020) · Chapter 11 in Value, Interests and Power: South Africa Foreign Policy in Uncertain Times, Pretoria University Law Press.
This chapter analyses the nature and implications of the transnational involvement of sub-state and non-state actors for the conduct of South Africa’s future foreign policy, against the backdrop of ongoing transformations in the diplomatic environment. Drawing mainly on documentary sources, we argue that while there has been an explosion of diplomatic activity in the post-apartheid dispensation on the part of non-traditional actors such as parliament, subnational governments, private and state-owned businesses, and an array of civil society actors, South Africa’s foreign policy machinery has generally remained out of sync with this changing diplomatic landscape. The shortcomings in rethinking and adapting the country’s foreign policy architecture to new diplomatic realities means that Pretoria is yet to harness fully the expertise, resources, and transnational linkages of these ‘new’ foreign policy actors. The lack of a whole-of-system approach to the formulation and implementation of South Africa’s foreign policy also exposes the country to the risk of a future foreign policy fragmentation.
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