“Following its democratic turn in 1994, Nelson Mandela wrote the year previously, the second pillar of South African foreign policy would be the principle ‘that just and lasting solutions to the problems of humankind can only come through the promotion of democracy worldwide. …’ This policy plank had distant echoes in the final articles of the Freedom Charter pledging that ‘South Africa shall strive to maintain world peace and the settlement of all international dispute by negotiation — not war.’ Initially, democratic South Africa sought the application of these ideals in Africa, the primary focus of its diplomatic efforts. In the opening decade of the 21st century, however, South Africa, perhaps sensing that the post-Cold-War unipolar moment was fading and eager to find its niche as an emerging power, has looked increasingly outward beyond its own continent to the cultivation of ‘South–South’ trade and security relationships.”
