IRMO Brief 05/2022, "South Africa’s Global, Continental and Regional Strategic Importance: Key issues"

Introduction

This work contributes towards a concrete understanding of key issues characterising South Africa’s global, continental and regional strategic importance. While these issues are opportunities enjoyed by South Africa globally, continentally and regionally, they are dialectically also challenges it faces internally and externally. South Africa’s position within international power relations South Africa is a country of strategic importance globally in the world, continentally in Africa and regionally in Southern Africa. Its global, continental and regional status is characterized by its position within a hierarchy of political, economic, financial, trade, human resources development, technological and military international power relations that extend from the United States of America at the center of capitalism to the African continent and its Southern African region at its periphery.