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Home Alone: South Africa's Regional Predicament
[Arbeitspapier]
Körperschaftlicher Herausgeber
German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA) - Leibniz-Institut für Globale und Regionale Studien, Institut für Afrika-Studien
Abstract South Africa finds itself in a severe internal crisis that has serious implications for its neighbours. As the regional hegemon is turning inwards, it has largely been unable to engage in regional crises in a constructive and meaningful way. As a result, we see a worrying downward trend in Southern ... mehr
South Africa finds itself in a severe internal crisis that has serious implications for its neighbours. As the regional hegemon is turning inwards, it has largely been unable to engage in regional crises in a constructive and meaningful way. As a result, we see a worrying downward trend in Southern Africa, traditionally a haven of stability in Africa.
The COVID-19 pandemic has amplified South Africa's social and economic woes. Unemployment has reached an all-time high; more than half of the youth cannot find a job and live in poverty. This has bred public discontent and protest.
The governing African National Congress (ANC) is ravaged by internal power struggles between "traditionalists" and the "reformers" around current president Cyril Ramaphosa. While official investigations have exposed deeply ingrained corruption in state-owned companies, the ANC suffered a serious blow in the November 2021 local elections.
Being preoccupied with its domestic challenges, the government has largely remained inactive in responding to gross human rights violations in neighbouring Zimbabwe and eSwatini. Additionally, authoritarian Rwanda, not South Africa, has led the regional response to jihadist violence, deploying elite troops to quell the Islamist insurgency in Mozambique's Cabo Delgado region.
The European Union and Germany both have a strong interest in further supporting South Africa and thereby also the broader Southern Africa region: South Africa is one of the world's few democratic regional powers: it can be a core partner in fighting the global climate crisis, and its progressive constitution closely aligns with the new German government's focus on promoting human rights and women's empowerment. Finally, with more than 600 German companies present in South Africa, German business interests would profit from fostering stability in the country and the Southern African region.... weniger
Thesaurusschlagwörter
Republik Südafrika; Innenpolitik; politisches System; politische Entwicklung; Regierbarkeit; Regierung; Wirkung; Auswirkung; internationales System; Konflikt; Gewalt; Protest; sozioökonomische Entwicklung; Wirtschaftsentwicklung; Epidemie; Wahl; Abstimmung; Kommunalwahl; Wahlergebnis; Korruption; südliches Afrika; Mosambik; Islam; Simbabwe; autoritäres System; Lesotho; Madagaskar; Außenpolitik; EU; Bundesrepublik Deutschland
Klassifikation
Politikwissenschaft
Sprache Dokument
Englisch
Publikationsjahr
2022
Erscheinungsort
Hamburg
Seitenangabe
11 S.
Schriftenreihe
GIGA Focus Afrika, 2
DOI
https://doi.org/10.57671/gfaf-22022
ISSN
1862-3603
Status
Veröffentlichungsversion; begutachtet
Lizenz
Creative Commons - Namensnennung, Keine Bearbeitung 3.0