THE EFFECT OF ELECTORAL POLITICS ON A COUNTRY’S INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS; A CASE STUDY OF SOUTH AFRICA 1994 TO 2017

Abstract

Political systems remain vital determinants of the relations that exist between nations. Before entering into any form of international relations, actors tend to consider various factors among them being the existing political systems. This study focused investigations of how the electoral politics has shaped South Africa’s international relations. South Africa has had a long history of racial segregation, an era that is popularly known as apartheid period. However, the apartheid came to an end in 1994 when the first black person, Nelson Mandela, became the president. Since 1994, South Africa has been ruled by three presidents namely; Nelson Mandela, Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma. In the post-apartheid period, the country adopted a constitutional democracy system of government. The study successfully adopted a qualitative research design that involved a systematic review of information from scholarly sources and was guided by rational choice theory. This research shows that all the post-apartheid presidents have portrayed themselves as democratic leaders so as to persuade both international and regional actors to establish strong ties with the country. Additionally, results of this study indicate that international relation is not determined by one factor as it is interplay of multiple factors. The study found out that in South Africa political traditions, economic development and regional and domestic matters play part in its international relations. All these factors are influence by rational choice that is made by the South African political leaders.