Ten years of democracy and the return of bad times: Studying security, strategic and military affairs in South Africa

Abstract

The first decade of democracy in South Africa was relatively peaceful. Like most new democracies, there was a vast array of problems that the first democratic government had to deal with. Very few, if any, of these problems were military in nature. South Africa did not face any significant traditional direct threat from either the international or domestic environment. Political, security and strategic thought and approaches tended to be idealistic in nature. There was a deliberate effort to steer away from a more competitive, realistic and nationalistic outlook on domestic and international security affairs. Such an approach was understandable given apartheid-South Africa's history of securocratisation and militarisation of society and the destructive role of the apartheid government's security forces in the region. The military in the New South Africa had to be restored to its rightful place in society. This required the simultaneous implementation of two seemingly diverging notions. The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) had to become less prominent in policy-making and societal processes, while, at the same time, its legitimacy within the South African society had to be restored. This was difficult as the former South African Defence Force (SADF) had featured prominently in the implementation of the policy of apartheid.