South Africa is still the major-player in African diplomacy, its military resources far outstripping those of other nations on the continent. It also has traditionally taken the lead role in Africa's united negotiations with other power blocs. Yet the recent consensus has been that South Africa's diplomacy over the last decades has been a disappointing failure - from appearing to back the controversial Mugabe regime to accusations that it is failing to utilize its position to encourage Chinese investment. John Siko has had insider access to the corridors of power in South Africa, and, with access to the major political players, charts the inability of South Africa to develop a coherent policy over the last four decades. In particular, he reveals the tight grip Mbeki has over foreign policy, to the detriment of SA's standing in the world, and argues South Africa's isolationist style of policy making has not changed enough after Mandela's election in 1994.

An exceptionally thorough study of South African foreign policy and the factors influencing its formation.

Prior to the Six-Day War, Israel was a darling of the international left, vocally opposed to apartheid and devoted to building alliances with black leaders in newly independent African nations. South Africa, for its part, was controlled by a regime of Afrikaner nationalists who had enthusiastically supported Hitler during World War II. But after Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories in 1967, the country found itself estranged from former allies and threatened anew by old enemies. As both states became international pariahs, a covert—and lucrative—military relationship blossomed between these seemingly unlikely allies. Based on extensive archival research and exclusive interviews with former generals and high-level government officials in both countries, The Unspoken Alliance tells a troubling story of Cold War paranoia, moral compromises, and startling secrets.

An African Volk explores how the apartheid state sought to maintain power as the world of white empire gave way to a new post-colonial environment that repudiated racial hierarchy.

This volume examines Zambia's role in the search for African independence, unity and development, particularly in the context of southern Africa. It also analyses the problems of dependence and underdevelopment and their impact on foreign policymaking. By concentrating on the key issues and major crises that confronted Zambia's decision makers during the nation's first years, the authors explain the country's current preoccupations and future prospects. Although their primary focus is on Zambia, they also treat a range of substantive and theoretical issues.

The Republic of South Africa (RSA) held its first fully democratic elections in April 1994. They were a highly visible signal that the RSA is really moving from the era of apartheid towards a democratic constitutional state. The process is an archetypal case of a negotiated transition of a regime, and as such it is of great interest to students of constitutional mechanisms. The contributors to this book, leading South African political scientists, discuss the process, the difficulties and the achievements in the transformation of the RSA′s political and legal institutions. They address various aspects of constitutional design and their interactions with social forces. They examine the new constitution, the roles of president and executive, the electoral, party and parliamentary systems, and the Constitutional Court. They look at the public service, at questions of labour and corporatism, at the RSA′s changing external relations and at the position of the armed forces. The new government′s Reconstruction and Development Programme, of which so much is expected, is seen to be particularly vulnerable to the pull of opposing forces.

This book is a long-overdue history of the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC) and the rise of the Africanist ideology in South Africa. From its formation in 1959, the PAC underground inside South Africa and in exile shaped the dynamics of the anti-apartheid movement and liberation struggle by framing alternative ideologies. Kwandiwe Kondlo analyses the radical traditions, the structural contradictions and the internal conflicts of this rival to the African National Congress (ANC), South Africas dominant liberation organisation. The contributions of some of the PAC leaders, including Robert Sobukhwe, Potlake Kitchener Leballo, Vusumzi Make and John Nyathi Pokela, are reconstructed as are the PACs experiences in exile and the strategies pursued by its military wing, the Azanian Peoples Liberation Party (APLA). The role of the PAC in the power-sharing negotiations leading to the historic 1994 elections in South Africa round off the narrative. The PAC story is a highly controversial one, as the perspectives are wide and various. This book seeks to present a balanced picture which includes diverse views in a comprehensive narrative.

Finalist for the Alan Paton Award In his latest book, renowned historian Hermann Giliomee challenges the conventional wisdom on the downfall of white rule and the end of apartheid. Instead of impersonal forces, or the resourcefulness of an indomitable resistance movement, he emphasizes the role of Nationalist leaders and of their outspoken critic Frederick van Zyl Slabbert. What motivated each of the last Afrikaner leaders, from Verwoerd to de Klerk? How did each try to reconcile economic growth, white privilege, and security with the demands of an increasingly assertive black leadership and unexpected population figures? In exploring each leader’s background, reasoning, and personal foibles, Giliomee takes issue with the assumption that South Africa was inexorably heading for an ANC victory in 1994. He argues that historical accidents radically affected the course of politics. Drawing on primary sources and personal interviews, Giliomee offers a fresh and stimulating political history that attempts not to condemn but to understand why the last Afrikaner leaders did what they did, and why their own policies ultimately failed them. A 2014 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title Reconsiderations in Southern African History