The Social Science Library » Conceptualising Regional Power in International Relations: Lessons from the South African Case

Conceptualising Regional Power in International Relations: Lessons from the South African Case

Author(s)	Flemes, Daniel
Abstract	Regional powers can be distinguished by four pivotal criteria: claim to leadership, power, resources, employment of foreign policy, instruments, and acceptance of leadership. Applying these indicators to the South African case, the analysis demonstrates the crucial significance of institutional foreign policy instruments. But although the South African government is ready to pay the costs of cooperative hegemony (such as capacity building for regional institutions and peacekeeping), the regional acceptance of South Africa’s leadership is constrained by its historical legacy. Additionally, Pretoria’s foreign policy is based on ideational resources such as its reputation as an advocate of democracy and human rights and the legitimacy derived from its paradigmatic behavior as a ‘good global citizen’. However, the Mbeki presidency is more successful in converting these resource into discursive instruments of interest assertion in global, rather than in regional bargains. In effect the regional power’s reformist South oriented multilateralism is challenging some of the guiding principles of the current international system.
IssueNo
Pages	1-60
Article	Access to Article
Source	German Institute of Global and Area Studies Working Paper Series
VolumeNo
PubDate	2007
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Conceptualising Regional Power in International Relations: Lessons from the South African Case