Abstract
The chapter introduces the evolving political scenario in post-apartheid South Africa and its implications for the political environment concerning think tanks. In facing the foreign policy and security challenges, the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) has enhanced its evidence-based policy research, taking into account newly arising untraditional security and foreign policy challenges both globally and domestically, while maintaining an independent posture between the government and civil society. The authors describe SAIIA’s structure and its mission, which evolved from providing a platform for public debate over South Africa’s engagement with the world to contributing to a well-governed, peaceful, economically and globally engaged Africa via more diversified topical coverage. Two case studies are described to explain how SAIIA has influenced the real policy shaping discourse. The first refers to the creation of a policy community in Africa around global economic governance (GEG). The second concerns SAIIA’s engagement with the South Africa Parliament, specifically on mining and developmental issues. Lastly, this chapter identifies three essential factors in SAIIA’s future development: the relationships within a network comprising different stakeholders; the correct choice of partners and sponsors; and a clearly planned long-term development framework.
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Notes
- 1.
Adam Habib (2012).
- 2.
The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) and the African Institute of South Africa (AISA) are examples of the latter. AISA has recently being integrated into the HSRC. The HSRC’s budget is voted annually by the South African Parliament.
- 3.
The deep irony of this statement is that many of Africa’s premier regional institutions and research bodies, such as the African Union Commission and the regional economic communities (REC), are predominantly reliant on support from abroad.
- 4.
South Africa’s African Agenda refers to the centrality of Africa in South Africa’s external engagement, bilaterally, regionally, and globally. At the heart of South Africa’s African agenda is the support of good governance, peace, and stability in Africa and the placing of Africa on a more sustainable development growth path. This is articulated in South Africa’s foreign policy through African institution-building, support of African infrastructure and regional integration initiatives, and peacebuilding and post-conflict reconstruction. It also entails South Africa’s active advocacy in international fora of African concerns, in particular the leveling of the playing field and support for an enabling international environment that is supportive of Africa’s development aspirations.
- 5.
This is also SAIIA’s programmatic goal, while its vision is to be the leading think tank on Africa and on global issues as they affect Africa.
- 6.
This is often couched as a human security approach.
- 7.
Andrew Selee (2014).
- 8.
A guide to monitoring and evaluating policy influence – odi.org. https://www.odi.org/resources/docs/6453.pdf by H Jones – 2011.
- 9.
Directly exported minerals and metals account for as much as 60% of all South African export revenue, while the South African mining sector directly contributes around 6% to South Africa’s GDP.
- 10.
The fallout of the Marikana incident has been long term and has led to significant labor unrest in the platinum sector, translating into losses of ZAR 8.7bn in employee wages and ZAR 19.7bn in company earnings since the beginning of 2014. Moreover, Marikana has also led to a fragmentation of the labor union movement in South Africa, placing labor stability in jeopardy.
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Grobbelaar, N., Sidiropoulos, E. (2019). Foreign Policy and Security Challenges Facing South Africa: The South African Institute of International Affairs. In: McGann, J.G. (eds) Think Tanks, Foreign Policy and the Emerging Powers. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-60312-4_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-60312-4_8
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