CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2008
| Author | Lukas, Ivan |
|---|---|
| Title | Understanding South African Regional Trade Policy - Systemic Forces and Domestic Interests as Mutually Reinforcing Variables |
| Summary | The paper addresses the question of why the Republic of South Africa has, since 1996, opted for and perpetuated until now, a neo-liberal foreign trade policy and promoted a neo-liberal form of regional integration in southern Africa, given the previously stated commitments to a more developmental, redistributive approach. A further puzzle arises if one realizes that this policy has, at first sight, no clear-cut positive implications for the utility of the dominant domestic political actors, both in terms of voters' utility increase and good regional inter-state relations. Methodologically, the paper presents a disciplined configurative case study approach, whereby two theories are employed in order to analyse the case under consideration and partly draws on personal interviews conducted in Pretoria and Johannesburg in April/May 2008. In order to solve the above outlined puzzles, first, the analysis of the rather contradictory nature of South African regional trade foreign policy is introduced. Second, a theoretical framework is developed, which incorporates both the interests of dominant domestic actors such as big businesses, corresponding with a utilitarian-liberal foreign policy approach, and neo-liberal norms emanating from the global North, aligned with dependency theories, to which South Africa is receptive due to her dependent position. These two independent variables are subsequently highlighted as the primary source of South African regional trade policy. |
| Supervisor | Julius Horvath |
| Department | International Relations MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2008/lukas_ivan.pdf |
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