Essay On Hegemony In South Africa

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Introduction
First and for most it is significant to get the definition for hegemony, which may be loosely defined as the leadership or predominant influence exercised by one nation over others .Taking great consideration the question ,deed South Africa is indeed the hegemony of the SADAC region ,considering the fact that it possessed one of the greatest economy in Africa thus it is bound to have great influence to the rest of the SADAC region . .SADAC Is the S. As much as that is the case however, the essay will focus on the liberal aspect of South Africa in terms of liberalism.
In depth defination of Hegemon
Hegemon is a represents a system of leadership where power is based on domination as much as co-optation”, whilst Evans and Newnham (1990:153) argued that hegemony means “primacy or leadership. In an international system this leadership would be exercised by a ‘hegemon’, a state possessing sufficient capability to fulfil this role.” More than just leadership, Myers (1991:5) posits that hegemonic states are those “states which possess power sufficient to dominate subordinate state systems”. Similarly writing in terms of power, Adebajo and Landsberg (2003:173) termed it “the holding by one state of a preponderance of power in the international system or regional subsystem, so that it can single-handedly dominate the rules and arrangements by which international and regional political and economic relation
Using these descriptions of hegemony to gain insight into South Africa’s potential as an effective hegemon, it is clear that South Africa’s role must involve its superior capabilities to that of other states in the region. As well as holding a legitimate amount of po...

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...urity (Nathan, 2012:30).
However according to Prys (2012:73) the existence of the Organ proved ineffectual. SADC has a woeful record of conciliatory. In many major conflicts that plagued the region it ceased from diplomatic commitment and critical moment. It played no significant role in relation to the Angolan civil war and was deeply divided over the DRC rebellion. Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe reacted to the rebellion by positioning troops in support of the Congolese President, Laurent Kabila, while South Africa, supported by Botswana, Mozambique and Tanzania, followed a diplomatic solution and championed a ceasefire. The organisation has managed very ill in relation to the Zimbabwe predicament. In the aspect of violent state repression and one defective election after another, the SADC heads of the State repeatedly voiced unity with Harare and discharged critic

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