The role of South Africa in global structural policy

Abstract

"In the immediate post-Apartheid period many commentators gave the country, and the newly elected African National Congress (ANC) government, short shrift. Whilst there was a predominant air of hope an underlying 'Afro-pessimism' was prevalent. Now, after more than 10 years of sustained - albeit fairly sedentary - economic expansion and a recent acceleration in the growth trajectory opinions are being revised. This re-evaluation is naturally supported by the government. But significant domestic problems remain. These problems play out in South Africa's approach to global economic and political relations, and underpin the analysis in this report. How might these dynamics play out in specific 'global structural domains' in the future? This report is structured as follows: Part two considers South Africa in the global and African contexts. It begins by reviewing South Africa's integration into and prospects in the global economy. Then it considers the domestic socio-economic dynamics within which economic and social policy is formulated and charts the broad contours of economic policy since 1994. It then considers South Africa's environmental challenges and policy responses as a distinct set of challenges. It ends with a brief assessment of the country's domestic political institutions in light of the policy challenges outlined in the previous sections. Part three considers the South African government's views on and stances towards key global governance issues. It begins with a substantive overview of the country's evolving foreign policy in general, then considers a number of different issues in the global governance terrain. It then focuses specifically on global trade governance via the World Trade Organization, and situates this within a discussion of South Africa's broader trade strategy encompassing regional dynamics and bilateral negotiations. Part four briefly outlines the contours of German-South African relations and highlights some challenges in the relationship moving forward. Part five identifies key risk factors facing the South African government and, via a simple scenario exercise indicates possible avenues for deployment of German development assistance in order to assist the South African government to address those challenges." (excerpt)