South Africa and the Political Economy of Regional Cooperation in Southern Africa

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Periodical article

Title:	South Africa and the Political Economy of Regional Cooperation in Southern Africa
Author:	Hentz, James J.
Year:	2005
Periodical:	Journal of Modern African Studies
Volume:	43
Issue:	1
Period:	March
Pages:	21-51
Language:	English
Geographic terms:	Southern Africa South Africa
Subjects:	political economy regional economic relations Politics and Government Economics and Trade Development and Technology Inter-African Relations
External link:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/3876258
Abstract:	Post-apartheid South Africa has recast its regional relations. Nonetheless, much of the literature depicts its policy as a projection of captured interests, for instance big business as embedded in Pretoria's apparent neoliberal turn. Instead, post-apartheid South Africa's regional relations represent a political compromise, albeit not necessarily an explicit one, that reflects the different visions of South Africa's regional role and their respective political bases. Because their policies reflect the push and pull of competing constituencies, democratic States are rarely one dimensional. Post-apartheid South Africa is no exception, as it attempts to square the political circle of competing political constituencies, such as big business and labour. South Africa's regional relations and, in particular, its policy of regional economic cooperation/integration, are best understood as a reflection of the competing interests within its domestic political economy. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract]