During Nelson Mandela's presidency between 1994 and 1999, foreign diplomats noted wryly and South African commentators complained loudly that Pretoria did not have a coherent foreign policy. There were several reasons for the ad hoc and often haphazard approach. The new government was preoccupied with the domestic imperatives of national reconciliation and the tran...

Under former President Mbeki, South Africa provoked international dismay and criticism when it tried to block United Nations censure of Burma, Sudan, and Zimbabwe for gross human rights abuses. In the case of Sudan, Pretoria stood accused of turning a blind eye to Khartoum's excessive and indiscriminate violence in Darfur, betraying South Africa's own struggle for ...

This article addresses a major gap in the literature on international mediation by investigating the significance of the mediation mandate. It identifies different types of mediation mandate and examines their functions and effects. A mandate issued by a multilateral organization serves as instructions to the mediator and sets the parameters of the process and outc...

This article describes and explains the Southern African Development Community's difficulty in establishing common security regime and its failure to play a useful peacemaking role. The malaise is attributed to three major problèmes: the absence of common values among member states, which inhibits the development of trust, common policies, institutional cohesion an...

This text considers the challenges involved in the transformation of South Africa's defense force and security policy through theoretical perspectives and policy proposals.

This text considers the challenges involved in the transformation of South Africa's defense force and security policy through theoretical perspectives and policy proposals.