South Africa’s soft power and the diplomacy of nuclear geopolitics

Abstract

From when it was reaccepted into the international community in the early 1990s, South Africa has made significant contributions towards the construction of new international regimes governing states’ interaction globally. South Africa’s global and regional governance advocacy for nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation within the framework of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the African Nuclear Weapons Free Zone Treaty (ANWFZ), the Forum of Nuclear Regulatory Bodies in Africa (FNRBA), as well as other related nuclear disarmament conventions, remain notable. This article makes two claims: First, it accounts for the evolution of South Africa’s soft power by arguing that achievements such as the unprecedented and voluntary dismantling of its nuclear warheads inspired the Republic’s new international image as a global norm entrepreneur. More importantly, the study submits that South Africa’s nuclear diplomacy has evolved through two overlapping stages of norm promotion towards the establishment of regional/global multilateral frameworks and institutions on nuclear disarmament and niche construction in the global nuclear industry. The wider significance of South Africa’s participation in nuclear geopolitics is the attraction the country gains from international respect, recognition, acceptance, and legitimacy, both regionally and globally. A major conclusion reached is that the moral authority and middle power status that Pretoria enjoy internationally are partly attributed to its unique commitment to the global nuclear denuclearization regime.