Thabo Mbeki and South Africa's African identity: a review of 20 years of South Africa's Africa policy

Abstract

This article has as its objective an analysis of South Africa's foreign policy towards Africa under the presidency of Thabo Mbeki, South Africa's second democracy-era president. It examines the evolution of South Africa's foreign policy towards Africa in the context of President Mandela's term in office, and proceeds to discuss the pursuit of Africa-first interests by Mbeki in the context of domestic constraints. The main methodology to be employed is that of content analysis. The analysis proceeds on three levels: structural, ideological and personal.