Democratizing Foreign Policy?: Lessons from South Africa

Are ordinary citizens capable of shaping foreign policy? To answer this question, fifteen established and emerging scholars use South Africa as a case study to assess the extent to which democratic consolidation can be translated into the realm of foreign policy. Contributors discuss the South African Development Community as an arena of transnational democracy, the impact of European Union trade policy, and the significance of South Africa's controversial 'arms deals' as they explore the opportunities and constraints facing recently democratized societies in the Southern Hemisphere. Democratizing Foreign Policy? Lessons from South Africa provides a broad-ranging assessment—investigating conceptual issues regarding the role of women, think tanks, civil society, labor movements, and the impact of globalization upon the process of foreign policy making—of the opportunities and challenges involved in opening the process of foreign policy making to civil society and the need to do so if the developing world is to better manage the complexities of globalization.

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1 Introduction: Democracy and 'Policies Beyond the State' Chapter 2 International Causes and Consequences of South Africa's Democratization Chapter 3 The Democratization of South African Foreign Policy: Critical Reflections on an Untouchable Subject Chapter 4 Democracy, Participation, and Foreign Policy Making in South Africa Chapter 5 Civil Society and Foreign Policy Chapter 6 Women and the Making of South Africa's Foreign Policy Chapter 7 Labor, Social Movements, and South Africa's Foreign Economic Policy Chapter 8 The Democratization of Trade Policy- The SA-EU Trade, Development, and Cooperation Agreement Chapter 9 Democracy, Development, Security, and South Africa's 'Arms Deal' Chapter 10 The Challenge of Transnational Democracy and the Southern African Development Community Chapter 11 Democratic Participation in Foreign Policy and Beyond: An Outline of Options

About the Author :
Philip Nel is Professor and Chair of Political Science at the University of Stellenbosch. Janis van der Westhuizen is Senior Lecturer of Political Science at the University of Stellenbosch.

Review :
This well-crafted volume asks a central question, and answers it fairly conclusively: has post-apartheid South Africa lived up to the promise of a democratized polity, including its foreign policy approach? While the authors assembled here hace a decidedly critical orientation, and may be biased as a result, it is nonetheless refreshing to read so many articles that cut through the fluff of government propaganda and challenge foreign policy analysts and South Africans alike to think about the current reality.