Globalisation and reflective policy-making in South Africa

Abstract

Paper presented at the South African Association of Public Administration and Management (SAAPAM) 9th Annual Conference, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, 30-31 October 2008. The Conference theme was "Consolidating state capacity". Since 1994, the need to address the effects of globalisation in South Africa has been placed at the centre of the nation’s agenda. Several measures have been undertaken through the introduction of a range of policy and strategic changes aimed at addressing some constitutional and socio-economic issues which could create bottlenecks for the young democracy, especially on the urgent need of re-integration of South Africa into the global terrain. The integration of South Africa into the global system after its first all-inclusive general elections, coupled with its first democratic government is of great importance towards a reflective public policy-making in the present globalisation era. The purpose of this paper is to provide a deviation from the current globalisation debate by exploring some constitutional frameworks and measures that may have been instrumental to a remarkable transformation of the South African public policy-making process from the previous apartheid regime to the present democratic government, and further profile how these changes may have impacted on South Africa’s universal acceptance into the global community.