Hegemony, 'common sense' and compromise : a neo-gramscian analysis of multilateralism in South Africa's post-apartheid foreign policy

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:This study attempts to overcome past failings in the analysis of post-apartheidSouth Africa's foreign policy. In contrast to explanations offered by mostprevious analyses, this work demonstrates that the behaviour exhibited byPretoria is not immutable or simply subject to the global realities, but isderivative of the specific historic conjuncture of forces that joined togetherduring the transition from apartheid, and which remain open-ended. Thechanges in the African National Congress' economic and political policies duringthe transition period are seen as the key to any attempt to understand Pretoria'spost-1994 foreign policy behaviour. This is intimately connected to thestructural changes in the international political economy and the change in thebalance of international class forces brought about by the neo-liberal counterrevolution.Deploying a theoretical framework derivative of the work of the ItalianMarxist, Antonio Gramsci, this study situates South Africa's foreign policy in aworld where the ideology of neo-liberalism has achieved hegemonic statusamongst the transnational elite class - fractions of national elites, representingand reflecting the interests of money capital. Such a hegemonic project informsthe beliefs of the Government of National Unity and the subsequent foreignpolicy activities postured by Pretoria. This study attempts to understand howand why the ANCacceded to the dominant discourse of neo-liberalism and whythis must be contextualised within the structural constraints brought to bearupon the GNUin an increasingly globalised world.This accession to neo-liberal beliefs has gIVen nse to contradictionswithin the domestic polity between contending class fractions and within theANC'sown ranks. This has provoked a fundamental tension in Pretoria's overallforeign policy, where on the one hand South Africa accepts the fundamentalnormative world order, whilst on the other pushes various reformist initiativeswhich seek to re-negotiate Pretoria's standing within this framework.Specifically, South Africa's behaviour in multilateral organisations has beenmarked by a tactical middlepowermanship role, essentially problem-solving, which seeks to smooth out the international system so that the ongoing worldorder may function as efficiently as possible. Such behaviour has beenqualitatively different from the activist role that was expected from an ANC-ledadministration.Indeed, the activism exhibited by South Africa has been largely centredaround the promotion of the liberalisation of markets and free trade, albeittempered by an awareness of the need to reconcile its acceptance of thehegemonic order, with that of the appeals of a historically important fraction ofits support constituency: the Left and labour. Attempts to reconcile these twopositions, of promoting free trade whilst at the same time demanding fairtrade for example, mirror the broader contradictions that have been evident inSouth African foreign policy. They reflect the historic compromise that saw theANCcome to administrative power, and also the desire by the government tobalance its neo-liberal credentials with certain reformist convictions. This hasbeen most evident in Pretoria's behaviour in multilateral organisations.SLXmultilateral initiatives, and Pretoria's role within each, are examined:the World Trade Organisation, the Cairns Group, the United Nations Conferenceon Trade and Development, the Non-Aligned Movement, the Commonwealth,and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Implications for future South Africanforeign policy are drawn out, and a critical eye cast on whether such rolesplayed out by Pretoria are immutable, or subject to change.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University