Stuck in Middle GEAR: South Africa's Post-Apartheid Foreign RelationsSouth Africa's post-apartheid foreign policy has been a bundle of contradictions and ambiguities. The accession by leading fractions of the African National Congress to the ongoing discourse of neo-liberalism has led to the policy making elite playing to two distinct audiences: its Leftist-inclined constituency within the Government of National Unity and externally oriented domestic and international capital. This second audience is increasingly integrating the GNU elite into a group which more and more reflects the concerns, aspirations, and demands of a transnational class elite. This move mirrors South Africa's ongoing incorporation into the international political economy as a global middle-power, a bridgebuilder between the global hegemons and those reluctant to follow their lead. |