The necessity for a South African defence diplomacy strategy to engage Southern African Development Community (SADC) member countries

Abstract

This dissertation is situated within the context of strategy formulation with collective defence being the end-state, preventive diplomacy being the way to achieve the end-state and defence diplomacy as soft power being the means for the implementation of a South African Defence diplomacy strategy. The interrelatedness of the concepts used in this dissertation was assessed through an examination of scholarship related to conflict resolution and management, the use of the military during peacetime, power relations in IR and strategy formulation. It argues that South Africa’s national interests are unavoidably best served by regional stability that is vested in promoting a stable SADC region underpinned, inter alia, by constructive defence engagement that is supported by a robust defence diplomacy strategy. The study adopts a qualitative design. The study is a literature-based study that relies on primary data sources that are of an official nature and are available in the public domain.

The dissertation found that based on the operational, foreign and defence policy context, there is a genuine need for South Africa to develop a defence diplomacy strategy to engage with SADC member countries. The conceptual framework is in line with the policy environments of both South Africa and the SADC, which enable the implementation of a DOD defence diplomacy strategy. The crafting of a DOD defence diplomacy strategy to engage SADC member countries must adopt a multidimensional approach. This includes strategy as Plan, Strategy as Pattern and Strategy as Perspective.