Understanding Xenophobia in South Africa: The Individual, the State and the International System

Abstract

The 2015 xenophobic attacks are a fresh reminder of anti-immigrant sentiments in South Africa. Since the 2008 xenophobic violence in the country, there has been a growing literature on xenophobia in South Africa. This article contributes to the existing discourse by employing levels of analysis as its analytical framework to analyse the recurrent anti-immigrant attitudes and attacks in South Africa. It concludes that xenophobia is indeed pervasive and that effectively ameliorating this pathology requires a conscious and comprehensive diagnosis of the manifestation of xenophobia at the individual, state and inter-state levels.