Lexington Books 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. 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.--Politikon 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.