ABSTRACT

The first five years of the Government of National Unity's (GNU) foreign policy were characterised by two, seemingly unrelated tendencies. South African public responses to the various dimensions and impact of globalization cover the whole political spectrum, from right to left. This chapter concentrates on the beliefs, attitudes, and perceptions of both senior members of government and the opinion é lite or opinion leaders. Mandela adds, globalization is clearly "led and dominated by the countries of the North. The GNU policy é lite tend to agree that some sovereignty has been lost to forces external to South Africa. The chapter discusses that the policy élite most closely identified with the GNU clearly has not taken leave of the redistributive goals of the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) The chapter sets out some of the implications of our approach and our findings for some of the policy initiatives supported by the GNU.