REGIONAL SECURITY AND GLOBAL WORLD ORDER: THE CASE OF SOUTH AFRICA IN AFRICA

Mehmet OZKAN
Published in Research Journal of International Studies, Issue 5, May 2006, pp.79-99.

INTRODUCTION

When the Cold War ended, starting with ‘the end of history’ and ‘the clash of civilizations’ theories, many discussions took place within academic and political circles about the prediction on how the future world order would look like. Although the global world order is something that everybody understands and uses in a different context, after 9/11 presumably there is a consensus about how to reach global world order: to make the world secure. Historically, societies experienced a global world order after each war, such as World War I and II. In a similar vain, in the past sometimes waging a war was regarded as the way to create a new order, after all the options resorted. However, after the 9/11 reaching a world order through war became less supported if at all. This could be seen as an ideological change, and one can attribute such a change to the proliferation of nuclear weapons, huge human disastrously results of any kind of war whether it is big in scale or small, and increasing terrorism that has been more visible in a global form after 9/11.

Bearing all in mind, this paper does not intend to analyse the current world structure, however it aims to investigate the connections between regional security and global world order by emphasising on the role of pivotal middle powers. It is important to note that any global order or disorder primarily affects the regions; nevertheless regional conflicts do not necessary have an
impact as strong as the global ones. In the beginning a new definition of power category in global politics, pivotal middle power, was followed by the section that deals with the role of South Africa in peacemaking and peacekeeping in Africa. Bringing South Africa to the spotlight, this paper will conclude with some comments on how such middle power can play key role in making a new world order, if only they could act together.

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