Paper short abstract:

This paper will examine the response of South Africa to UNSC resolution 1973 drawing upon interviews with senior ANC officials and ANC activists. It will analyse the contradictory nature of South Africa’s response and situate this within broader debates about Pretoria’s foreign policy trajectory.

Paper long abstract:

This paper will examine the response of South Africa to the intervention in Libya drawing upon interviews with activists at the ANC's policy conference in June 2012, in depth interviews with senior ANC officials, and detailed policy analysis. Pretoria has identified the rise of the BRICS as a major development in the sphere of international relations; one that is fundamentally shifting the balance of global power and influence. While Constructivists have paid a great deal of attention to the role that the ANC's identity as a liberation movement has in shaping the 'anti-imperial' component of its foreign policy, this paper will argue that such populist rhetoric is primarily produced for domestic, ANC consumption, rather than being the primary driver of policy making. This paper will argue that South Africa's contradictory response to the UN Security Council Resolution 1973 reflects its long-term approach towards peace building and security in Africa and its attempts to reconcile Pretoria's growing power and influence on the world stage with the ANC's identity as an African liberation movement.