From apartheid to Ubuntu: Transition, transaction and transformation in South Africa's post-apartheid foreign ministry. Issue 3 (3rd July 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: van Wyk, Jo-Ansie
• Is Part Of: South African journal of international affairs. Volume 26:Issue 3(2019)
• Page Start: 413
• Page End: 434
• Publication Date: 2019-07-03
• Subjects: South Africa -- foreign ministry -- African Agenda -- post-apartheid -- Ubuntu -- democratic transition -- transformation; South Africa -- Foreign relations -- Periodicals; South Africa -- Politics and government -- 1989-1994 -- Periodicals; International relations -- Periodicals; World politics -- 1945-1989 -- Periodicals; 968
• DOI: 10.1080/10220461.2019.1661281
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1022-0461

Abstract

ABSTRACT: South Africa's democratic transition had direct bearing on the country's participation and status in the international arena. The transformation of South Africa's foreign ministry from the period of apartheid to that of Ubuntu signifies one of the unique cases of institutional adaptability in the wake of regime change. To support this claim, the adaptive strategies of South Africa's foreign ministry (whether under the moniker of the Department of Foreign Affairs or that of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation) since 1990 are analysed by focusing on the various shifts in emphasis (especially, to the African Agenda and the diplomacy of Ubuntu ), changes in political and bureaucratic leadership, the ministry's institutional restructuring and transformation, and new emphases on inter-governmental relations and co-operative governance.