South African Foreign Policy, Preventive Diplomacy and the False Promise of Conflict Resolution

bibliographic database
Line

Periodical article

Title:	South African Foreign Policy, Preventive Diplomacy and the False Promise of Conflict Resolution
Author:	Solomon, Hussein
Year:	2002
Periodical:	South African Journal of International Affairs
Volume:	9
Issue:	2
Pages:	147-157
Language:	English
Geographic terms:	Angola Congo (Democratic Republic of) South Africa Zimbabwe
Subjects:	civil wars peace treaties international politics negotiation Inter-African Relations international relations Politics and Government
External link:	https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10220460209545398
Abstract:	Preventive diplomacy, which may be defined as 'action to prevent disputes from arising between parties, to prevent existing disparities from escalating into conflicts and to limit the spread of the latter when they occur', seems to lie at the very heart of South Africa's regional policy. This paper evaluates Pretoria's success in preventive diplomacy by means of three case studies, viz. Zaïre/the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Angola and Zimbabwe. All three attempts at preventive diplomacy ended in failure for South Africa's diplomats. Scholars and practitioners of conflict resolution could attribute these failures to a plethora of reasons. The most salient is a failure to understand the root causes of conflicts. Furthermore, it should be borne in mind that South Africa's failures in preventive diplomacy are mirrored in the failure of other peace initiatives worldwide, which can be explained in many ways. Ref. [ASC Leiden abstract]