India-South Africa India-South Africa 2019 | Page 34

(NEPAD), an initiative that seeks to engage
industrialized countries to foster development
within African countries. Indeed, the seminal
statements on South African foreign policy
emphasise the centrality of the sub-region,
Africa as a whole, and South Africa as
appropriate sites of action for the post-
apartheid era. However, the split within the
Southern African Development Community
(SADC) over military intervention in 1998
and the inability of South Africa’s quiet
diplomacy to have a discernible eff ect on the
conduct of a despotic Mugabe in Zimbabwe
point to its limits.
As Becker (2010) notes, “Mbeki’s
Africanism and anti-imperialism led him
to silence critics of Zimbabwe as racist
and imperialist and wholly ignore his
stated commitment to democracy and
good governance.” The ANC’s close
ideological ties with Mugabe’s anti-colonial
struggle have also raised doubts and stained
Mbeki’s image as a conciliatory fi gure and
bridge builder. The result is a paradox,
with South Africa’s inability to exercise
eff ective infl uence over its region, despite
the employment of military, economic, and
soft power means including persuasion,
while being internationally famous as the
authentic, yet the reluctant voice of African
interests. NEPAD’s efforts to promote
democracy, corporate good governance
were seen by some African leaders as
a replication of Western modernization
priorities at the expense of African particular
needs and traditional values. This shows the
diplomatic complexities involved in South
Africa.
However, the attractive pull of South
Africa is evident, by the expansion of South
African companies in highly visible sectors
like cellular telephones, hotels, television,
and, above all, its commercial retailers.
The success of corporate South Africa in
penetrating the markets in Africa contrasts
with the failure of South African diplomacy
to make headway in neighbouring confl ict
resolution.
Given security concerns in South Asia,
India’s post-independence foreign policy
has been driven by two, sometimes contrary
strands: fi rst, power and national interest;
and, second, the idea that an activist role
(nonalignment) in international aff airs would
secure not only the interests of India but
also of humanity at large. However, clashes
with Pakistan in recent times have shifted
the emphasis from Southern solidarity to a
more pronounced expression of nationalism.
While southern Africa resembles a “security
community,” in which war is increasingly
unlikely and collective security regimes are
fairly well established. South Asia can be
characterised as a “security complex,” based
on the distribution of (mostly military) power
among states.
Further, high political, strategic, and
material investment in national security
Table 2: Patterns of Regional Infl uence
Country
India
Power Source
and Infl uence Regional Rivals and
Resistance Sources Regional
Strategies
Hard power
and nuclear
deterrence Pakistan with nuclear
deterrence and
competition for US
support
Zimbabwe: anti-
colonial ideology
and Robert Mugabe's
personal legacy Balance of
Embryonic
military power
and coercive
diplomacy
Presidential,
Weak
quiet
diplomacy
and use of
economic
clout
South Africa African
Renaissance,
Soft power,
New Partnership
for Africa's
Development
(NEPAD)
34 • India-South Africa • 2019
Regional
Leadership