The Developmental Paradiplomacy of South African Provinces: Context, Scope and the Challenge of Coordination
In: The Hague Journal of DiplomacySearch for other papers by Fritz Nganje in
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Summary
Paradiplomacy, or the international relations of sub-national governments, has been a feature of South Africa’s international relations since 1995. However, despite a general recognition across all three spheres of government of the developmental value of the practice, aligning the paradiplomacy of most provincial and local governments to South Africa’s development and foreign policy priorities has remained an elusive goal.
This article provides a rare insight into the paradiplomacy of South African provinces and explains why successive efforts at both the national and provincial levels to coordinate and rationalize paradiplomacy have been met with minimal success. It argues that although publicly acknowledging the potential benefits of paradiplomacy, national officials continue to harbour an attitude of ambivalence towards the international agency of provincial and local governments, which explains the half-hearted nature of most of the unsuccessful efforts to align paradiplomacy with South Africa’s foreign policy and national priorities. At the provincial level, efforts to manage paradiplomacy have largely been stymied by structural constraints that are embedded in South Africa’s constitutional framework, as well as an adverse political culture in the provinces.
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4
Brian Hocking, ‘Bridging Boundaries: Creating Linkages. Non-Central Government and Multilayered Policy Environments’, WeltTrends, no. 11, 1996, pp. 36-51. See also Brian Hocking, ‘Patrolling the “Frontier”: Globalization, Localization and the “Actorness” of Non-Central Governments’, in Francisco Aldecoa and Michael Keating (eds), Paradiplomacy in Action: The Foreign Relations of Subnational Governments (London: Frank Cass, 1999), pp. 17-39.
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6
Brian Hocking, Localising Foreign Policy: Non-Central Governments and Multilayered Diplomacy (London: Macmillan, 1993), p. 20.
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11
See, for example, Rob Jenkins, ‘India’s States and the Making of Foreign Economic Policy: The Limits of the Constituent Diplomacy Paradigm’, Publius: The Journal of Federalism, vol. 33, no. 4, autumn 2003, pp. 63-81; Chen Zhimin, ‘Coastal Provinces and China’s Foreign Policy’, in Yufen Hao and Lin Su (eds), China’s Foreign Policy Making: Societal Force and Chinese American Policy (London: Ashgate, 2005), pp. 187-208; Kin Wah Loh, ‘Federation of Malaysia’, in Hans Michelmann ( ed.), Foreign Relations in Federal Countries (Montreal, qc: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2009), pp. 188-210; and Amitabh Mattoo and Happymoon Jacob, ‘Republic of India’, in Hans Michelmann (ed.), Foreign Relations in Federal Countries (Montreal, qc: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2009), pp. 168-187.
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12
Zhimin, ‘Coastal Provinces and China’s Foreign Policy’, p. 204.
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17
See, for example, Francisco Aldecoa, ‘Towards Plurinational Diplomacy in the Deeper and Wider European Union, 1985-2005’, Regional & Federal Studies, vol. 9, no. 1, December 2009, pp. 82-94.
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18
A.K. Ahmed, ‘The Role of Parliament in South Africa’s Foreign Policy Development Process: Lessons from the United States’ Congress’, South African Journal of International Affairs, vol. 16, no. 3, December 2009, pp. 291-310; and Lesley Masters, ‘Opening the “Black Box”: South African Foreign Policy-making’, in Chris Landsberg and Jo-Ansie Van Wyk (eds), South African Foreign Policy Review, Volume 1 (Pretoria: aisa and igd, 2012), pp. 20-37.
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19
Nico Steytler and Johann Mettler, ‘Federal Arrangement as a Peacemaking Device during South Africa’s Transition to Democracy’, Publius: The Journal of Federalism, vol. 31, no. 4, autumn 2001, pp. 93-106.
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29
Deon Geldenhuys, ‘The Foreign Relations of South Africa’s Provinces’, SAIIA Reports, no. 12 (Johannesburg: South African Institute for International Affairs, 1998), p. 51.
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45
Mogale City, ‘International Trips Discussed’, The Official Mogale City Website, 13 February 2012, available online at http://www.mogalecity.gov.za/news-archive/february/560-international-trips-discussed.
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48
Jenkins, ‘India’s States and the Making of Foreign Economic Policy’, pp. 63-81; Zhimin, ‘Coastal Provinces and China’s Foreign Policy’, pp. 187-208; Loh, ‘Federation of Malaysia’, pp. 188-210; and G. Zubelzu, ‘The Argentinean Provinces as Sub-National Actors in Contemporary International Relations: Links with Russia and Russian Regions’, paper presented at the 4th Convention of the Russian International Studies Association, Moscow, 22-23 September 2006.
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49
Jenkins, ‘India’s States and the Making of Foreign Economic Policy’, pp. 63-81.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 1538 | 236 | 19 |
| Full Text Views | 319 | 17 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 148 | 33 | 0 |
The Developmental Paradiplomacy of South African Provinces: Context, Scope and the Challenge of Coordination
In: The Hague Journal of DiplomacySearch for other papers by Fritz Nganje in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Summary
Paradiplomacy, or the international relations of sub-national governments, has been a feature of South Africa’s international relations since 1995. However, despite a general recognition across all three spheres of government of the developmental value of the practice, aligning the paradiplomacy of most provincial and local governments to South Africa’s development and foreign policy priorities has remained an elusive goal.
This article provides a rare insight into the paradiplomacy of South African provinces and explains why successive efforts at both the national and provincial levels to coordinate and rationalize paradiplomacy have been met with minimal success. It argues that although publicly acknowledging the potential benefits of paradiplomacy, national officials continue to harbour an attitude of ambivalence towards the international agency of provincial and local governments, which explains the half-hearted nature of most of the unsuccessful efforts to align paradiplomacy with South Africa’s foreign policy and national priorities. At the provincial level, efforts to manage paradiplomacy have largely been stymied by structural constraints that are embedded in South Africa’s constitutional framework, as well as an adverse political culture in the provinces.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 1538 | 236 | 19 |
| Full Text Views | 319 | 17 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 148 | 33 | 0 |
