South Africa and the ‘Three Level Game’: Globalisation, Regionalism and Domestic Politics

Abstract

What is the relationship between globalisation and regionalism? There are two broad answers to this question; that regional trading arrangements are stumbling blocks that arrest the progress of the multilateral free trading system or that they are stepping stones or building blocks promoting global free trade. The problem with both sets of explanations is that they describe moving from regional free trade to global free trade (or not) as a linear process where either pro- or anti-free trade coalitions are strengthened or weakened. But regionalism can do both, because it is best explained within a ‘three level game’ where the state makes political tradeoffs between domestic actors that are able to promote their interests at the international or regional level of the game. States manipulate regional relations to navigate globalisation. This article uses the case of South Africa's trade negotiations with the European Union and with the Southern African Development Community to illustrate how a ‘three level game’ can square the discordant political demands of its political economy.