Ubuntu diplomacy : broadening soft power in an African context
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Date
Authors
Madise, Dikeledi
Isike, Christopher
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Wiley
Abstract
Ubuntu is an African philosophical worldview that has increasingly gained prominence
since South Africa's democratic transition in 1994. It places emphasis on the
world's common humanity and its consequent interdependence. Through content
analysis, the article examines the soft power that is inherent in South Africa's foreign
policy, as codified in the 2011 White Paper on South African Foreign Policy–Building a
Better World: Diplomacy of Ubuntu. In its findings, the article established a distinction
between Joseph Nye's original conceptualization of soft power, formulated from a
United States realist foreign policy perspective, and the one inherent in
South Africa's humanist foreign policy guided by the philosophy of Ubuntu. This distinction
is premised on the geopolitical disparities between the two nations. The article
further examines South Africa's wielding of soft power within the African
continent, the first audience of the country's diplomacy of Ubuntu.
Description
Keywords
Ubuntu, Humanity, South Africa (SA), Foreign policy, Soft power, Africa
Sustainable Development Goals
Citation
Madise D, Isike C. Ubuntu diplomacy:
Broadening soft power in an African context. Journal of Public Affairs. 2020;20:e2097. https://DOI.org/10.1002/pa.2097.