TY - JOUR
T1 - South Africa's Iran policy
T2 - 'Poster child' meets renegade
AU - Onderco, Michal
N1 - Funding Information:
The author would like to thank Maxi Schoeman, Roland Henwood, Anton Du Plessis, Laurie Nathan and Deon Geldenhuys for invaluable discussions about South African foreign policy, as well as Wolfgang Wagner, attendees of the ECPR Joint Sessions in Antwerp (2012) and the reviewers for feedback on an earlier version of the paper. The research for this paper was generously funded by the VU Graduate School of Social Sciences. This paper forms part of a project funded by the Netherlands’ Organisation for Scientific Research.
PY - 2012/12
Y1 - 2012/12
N2 - Compliance with universal norms is one of the most important aspects of the global order. Iran, through the conduct of its nuclear programme, is seen as a challenger of the global non-proliferation norms, which enjoy almost universal recognition. South Africa's policy on Iran has been extremely puzzling - a rising power in the international system, subscribing to a global norm of nuclear nonproliferation, but challenging the interpretation and application of that norm. This contribution asks why this is the case, and demonstrates that South Africa's policy towards the Iranian nuclear programme has been clearly marked by a strongly held belief regarding the value of negotiations, a distrust of the global North, and a preference for a wide multilateral approach in institutions.
AB - Compliance with universal norms is one of the most important aspects of the global order. Iran, through the conduct of its nuclear programme, is seen as a challenger of the global non-proliferation norms, which enjoy almost universal recognition. South Africa's policy on Iran has been extremely puzzling - a rising power in the international system, subscribing to a global norm of nuclear nonproliferation, but challenging the interpretation and application of that norm. This contribution asks why this is the case, and demonstrates that South Africa's policy towards the Iranian nuclear programme has been clearly marked by a strongly held belief regarding the value of negotiations, a distrust of the global North, and a preference for a wide multilateral approach in institutions.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84871015373&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/10220461.2012.740179
DO - 10.1080/10220461.2012.740179
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84871015373
VL - 19
SP - 299
EP - 318
JO - South African Journal of International Affairs
JF - South African Journal of International Affairs
SN - 1022-0461
IS - 3
ER -