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South Africa and the Question of Hegemony in Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Olusola Ogunnubi

    (Faculty of Management Sciences, Mangosuthu University of Technology)

  • Adeoye Akinola

    (Department of Public Administration University of Zululand, KwaDlangezwa)

Abstract

This article examines the viability of mainstream neo-realist international relations scholarship for understanding regional power dynamics within Africa by offering a critical evaluation of the categorization of South Africa as a hegemonic power on the continent. Using the theoretical framework of hegemonic stability theory, it argues that there is a somewhat weak link between South Africa’s foreign policy character and its hegemonic disposition in Africa. The South African state, which is the driving force for political, economic and foreign policy processes, is itself subordinate in relation to international capital and lacks the influence expected of a regional hegemon. Despite South Africa’s development, the article demonstrates that its dependency provides the theoretical construct for understanding the country’s ambiguous hegemonic projection. This analytical framework captures the crux of the “hegemonic debate†as well as other conversations in relation to the adaptation of the concept of hegemony to Africa. Therefore, any application of the hegemonic discourse to South Africa necessarily requires a deeper understanding that takes cognizance of the fact that country’s regional hegemony operates within the orbit of a dependent-development paradigm in the global economic order, a neo-liberal order that continues to deepen Africa’s dependency syndrome. Dependency, as well as other complexities, impedes the reality of South Africa’s hegemonic ambitions in Africa.

Suggested Citation

  • Olusola Ogunnubi & Adeoye Akinola, 2017. "South Africa and the Question of Hegemony in Africa," Journal of Developing Societies, , vol. 33(4), pages 428-447, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:jodeso:v:33:y:2017:i:4:p:428-447
    DOI: 10.1177/0169796X17736583
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Flemes, Daniel & Wojczewski, Thorsten, 2010. "Contested Leadership in International Relations: Power Politics in South America, South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa," GIGA Working Papers 121, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.
    2. Stanley Fischer, 1994. "Russia and the Soviet Union Then and Now," NBER Chapters, in: The Transition in Eastern Europe, Volume 1, Country Studies, pages 221-258, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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