Abstract:
South Africa proudly wears the label ‘emerging power’, with its membership of the
BRICS and G20 probably the most visible signs of this conferred status. This paper
explores the concept of the emerging powers within the context of current global
power shifts and locates South Africa within this group. It discusses the criteria
for and characteristics of emerging powers, and then turns to some of the
constraints and challenges faced by these states. Specific attention is paid to
the ‘how’ of these states’ recognition and inclusion in global institutions and the
impact of domestic conditions and regional politics on their positions, focusing
particularly on South Africa. It concludes that these factors will continue to
challenge South Africa’s ability to rise above the semblance of importance
conferred by its inclusion in the category of emerging powers to a position in
which it exercises this status to its own advantage, including its idealistic
objectives of promoting greater global equality and recognition for Africa and
the global South. Although other emerging powers face similar challenges, South
Africa’s domestic constraints and related lack of regional and global reach,
politically and economically, threaten its ‘status consistency’ as an emerging power.
