Has South Africa the Spine for Global Leadership?

This Chapter considers the global aspirations of South Africa as a leader. South Africa has the potential to be an important country within Africa and at the global stage. However, the chapter argues that the lack of a commonly defined coherent and clear grand strategy means that there are serious lapses in terms of ambition, credibility and capabilities for South Africa to fully live up to the expectations to which it is often associated. The chapter discusses some of the challenges that have hampered the definition and realization of a South African grand strategy: a strategy that marshals hard, soft and smart leadership capabilities to secure South African interests. While South Africa has important traits that reveal willingness, acceptance and capacity of its role as a global actor, important challenges make it difficult for the country to amply craft and implement such a grand strategy.