ABSTRACT
Johannesburg is 'Africa's premier metropolis, the symbol par excellence of the "African modern"'. Johannesburg links the two: the foreign policy goal of regional power and growth in the service sector. South Africa is reinforcing its position as regional hegemon and the gateway provides the country 'with the muscle to increase the economic and trade outcomes'. Gateway is effectively a contemporary term for a longstanding concept of centres of economic and political power. South Africa's historical trajectory has been shaped by its role as world gold producer, its place within the Britain's Empire, and its close ties to the Western international financial institutions for over 100 years. International political economy focuses primarily on state-centric data and the 'international economy', which describes economic relations between states. Domestic economic development took place in an incubated space but at the same time as the internationalisation of South African finance and business enterprises was reined in.
