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1. African Union: Mbeki’s South Africa Policy for Africa

Author:
Luiza Bizzo Affonso and Vitor Ferreira Lengruber
Publication Date:
06-2020
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Brazilian Journal of African Studies
Institution:
Brazilian Journal of African Studies
Abstract:
Marked by tragedies that reinforce stereotypes about itself, especially those that portray it as dependent on developed countries and unable to solve its own dilemmas, the African continent still presents itself in the 21st century with challenges related to hunger and humanitarian calamities, more recurrent in some regions than others. The initiatives to deal with theses issues arise right at the beginning of the second millennium primarily from South Africa. In this sense, it is possible to ask the following question: what political and economic measures were adopted by the African continent in order to combat these problems? Based on the bibliographic review of qualitative secondary sources relevant to the theme and on the analysis of primary sources, such as speeches and official documents of the Organization of African Unity, the purpose of this article is to demonstrate changes in the political and economic dynamics. Those changes were materialized in the different principles incorporated by the Organization of African Unity (1963) and the African Union (2001), the two main organizations for political, economic and social cooperation at the continental level, which took place in Africa at the beginning of the 21st century. The specific objective of this article is to present the change of guidelines, politically and economically, adopted by the African Union at the time of the transition to the new millennium and the role of South Africa, during the administration of Thabo Mbeki (1999-2008) during the process. The historical period being analysed, therefore, dates from the mid-1990s to the end of Mbeki’s presidential term in September 2008.
Topic:
Development, Regional Cooperation, Economic growth, Regional Integration, and African Union
Political Geography:
Africa, South Africa, and Brazil

2. The Migration Flows in South Africa and Its Impacts on Southern Africa (1960-2000)

Author:
Pedro Brites and Yuri Debrai Padilha
Publication Date:
12-2019
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Brazilian Journal of African Studies
Institution:
Brazilian Journal of African Studies
Abstract:
The end of World War II instituted a new geopolitical structure in international relations, changing the dynamics of these relations in Southern Africa, both by the change of European countries in relation to the countries of the region, and by the acceleration of the liberation processes of the African peoples. This scenario contributed to a change in the migratory processes of this period, still presenting impacts on the current migratory dynamics in South Africa (RSA). This research aims to investigate the migratory processes that occurred during the long road to freedom of the African peoples, from the1960s to the early 2000s. Therefore, we investigate the influence of the Cold War bipolar dispute and the reflexes that the peripheral capitalist development of South Africa had for the migration processes of the country. Currently, the state stands out as political and economic leadership in the region and is the destination of many migratory contingents. However, part of this prestige has bases linked to the Apartheid regime, whose “separate development” implied a framework of social inequality, persisting to this day in the country.
Topic:
Migration, Post Colonialism, History, Geopolitics, and Independence
Political Geography:
South Africa and Africa

3. South-South Cooperation and Technological Development in Defense: The Case of the Missile a-Darter

Author:
Tiago de Bortoli and Rafaella Pelliccioli
Publication Date:
06-2019
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Brazilian Journal of African Studies
Institution:
Brazilian Journal of African Studies
Abstract:
In the present work, from the case study of the A-Darter missile, a technology transfer project between Brazil and South Africa for its development, will seek to understand how this specific case of cooperation in the military technological development sector occurred and others, understanding their dynamics and consequences for international relations, especially for south-south cooperation. This study is considered relevant, since the technological growth of developing countries is important in unleashing the historical ties of dependence on developed countries, opening the door to independence in other technical areas, as well as the creation of common spaces for the debate of their interests and the discussion of their agendas, because technological knowledge has always been one of the factors that most influenced the international hierarchy, from the steam engine to nuclear technology.
Topic:
Development, International Cooperation, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
Africa, South Africa, and Brazil

4. Dual Colonialism and the Formation of the National State: The South African Case

Author:
Maximilian Dante Barone Bullerjahn
Publication Date:
06-2018
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Brazilian Journal of African Studies
Institution:
Brazilian Journal of African Studies
Abstract:
South Africa is certainly one of the few countries that has assimilated in such a significant way two distinct colonization processes, at different times. The trading post of the Dutch imperial fleet on the Cape soon became a space for the occupation of European settlers, who, searching for a homeland, found in the vast lands around the Cape the space for the development of a new civilization. Of a Protestant majority, these new European settlers made of the land their acquired triumph. Between the revolutionary turmoil in France and the Napoleonic imperial appetite, the arrival of the English to the Cape region substantially transformed the socio-political relations in the region. The subsequent exodus of the Boers2 enabled a cult for their selfassertion, and the South African space was filled by successive battles over the territory between the Boers, the English, and native peoples. At the end of the nineteenth century, the discovery of mineral riches on an unprecedented scale marked the transition from an economy still lagging behind to one with a modernizing foundation, with the development of a sophisticated financial system initially directed at the primary-exporting matrix, which would later on become the anchor for the incipient process of South African industrialization. The formation of the two Boer republics, beyond Afrikaner3 nationalism, sought to contain the rapid advance of English imperialism in the midst of the discovery of the largest deposits of precious minerals on the continent. After two traumatic wars, a political arrangement emerged: the South African Union (1910), an understanding between English and Boer elites, later on leading up to the federalization of the territories occupied by the Boer republics and the English coastal colonies.
Topic:
Nationalism, State Formation, and Colonialism
Political Geography:
Africa and South Africa

5. From Mandela to Zuma: The Importance of the Southern Atlantic Region for South Africa’s Foreign Policy

Author:
Anselmo Otavio
Publication Date:
06-2017
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Brazilian Journal of African Studies
Institution:
Brazilian Journal of African Studies
Abstract:
As it is known, Ceuta’s conquest by Portugal in 1415 initiated the discovery and, consequently, strategic transformation of the Southern Atlantic region by European powers. It is important to consider, first, that these actions were a process, since from the 14th century the necessary conditions for maritime expansion were being created by Portugal. Secondly, the arrival at Ceuta represented not the end, but the beginning of a phase marked by the search for an alternative maritime route that would connect Europe to India and would grant the Portuguese Crown access to spices from India’s territory. Although this process was initiated by Portugal, it is a fact that, throughout the centuries, countries like Spain, the Netherlands and England have also pursued the same development. From then, the territories belonging to the South Atlantic coast have been impacted by European powers, since, due to colonization, they were encompassed by different political and economic dynamics. While Lisbon connected Brazilian and Angolan territories through a relationship based on the purchase and sale of slave labor, the Netherlands at first, England later, comprised the Cape Colony to the Afro-Asian dynamic, keeping this territory’s interactions circumscribed to their respective colonies in the Asian side.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, History, and Colonialism
Political Geography:
Africa, South Africa, and Portugal