From Freetown to Kinshasa: Reassessing Nigeria and South Africa’s Foreign Policy Behaviour and Conflict Intervention Roles in Africa

Abstract

Based on the meta-theoretical approach of eclecticism, and drawing on the insights of structural realism and constructivism, this study comparatively analyses Nigeria and South Africa’s intervention roles in Africa, with a special focus on the conflict episodes in Sierra Leone (1991-1998) and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) (1997-2005). The study finds that Nigeria and South Africa’s conflict intervention behaviour in Sierra Leone and the DRC was significantly dictated by the structural constraints and incentives imposed on them by their dominant positions in their subregion, and the regional complexes in which they operate. However, their identities as African actors, forged by their de-colonisation and anti-apartheid struggles, and the existing values and bond that they share with their contiguous states also shape their intervention roles significantly. Through the two case studies, the study illustrated the advantages of a multi-perspective, eclectic approach that is sensitive to the relative explanatory weight both approaches offer on Nigeria and South Africa interventions role in Africa. Overall, the thesis makes a contribution to the literature by looking at the two actors simultaneously and comparatively, and by illustrating the value of an eclectic approach to foreign policy analysis, rather than participating in the theoretical turf-wars that are all too prevalent in the discipline of international relations.