Unipolarity and Regional Integration: South Africa and the "African Renaissance"

The increase in the Republic of South Africa's (RSA) power since the abolition of apartheid in 1991 is examined to shed light on the phenomenon of regional integration, looking specifically at the RSA's impact on power relations throughout the rest of Africa & the resulting implications for regional integration. It is argued that the distribution of power in the regional subsystem structures regional integration, but it is distributed in a unipolar way because of the capacities of the RSA. This influence is relatively independent from the intentions & decisions of the RSA's own policymakers. It is noted, however, that the regional framework does contribute to the integration of the RSA in the region. The strengths & weaknesses of existing theories of regional integration & power, as well as the current essay's neorealist problematic, are examined. D. Weibel