National Chairman's Annual Statement 2007

The National Chairman's Annual Statement 2007 from the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) discusses South Africa's role as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council and the challenges of balancing its aspirational, human-rights-based foreign policy with the realities of global realpolitik.

• South Africa assumed a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council at the start of 2007, providing an opportunity to advocate for the reform of the Council and the broader UN body while acting as a bridge builder to strengthen global multilateral values.
• The document argues that South Africa has struggled to operationalize its moral and aspirational foreign policy objectives due to the constraints of being a middle-ranking power in a global system driven by realpolitik. Specifically, it notes a failure to apply human rights principles to crises in its own region, such as the political crisis and state brutality in Zimbabwe.
• The global geopolitical landscape is described as transitioning from a uni-polar world, where US omnipotence has been punctured following the invasion of Iraq, toward a multi-polar world characterized by the rise of China, India, and Russia.
• The author identifies a critical need for the development of indigenous African research capacity to inform policy, noting that African agendas are frequently set outside the continent and that governments often ignore existing regional centres of excellence.

APA

South African Institute of International Affairs (2007). National Chairman's Annual Statement 2007. https://saiia.org.za/news/national-chairmans-annual-statement-2007/

Chicago

South African Institute of International Affairs. National Chairman's Annual Statement 2007. 2007. https://saiia.org.za/news/national-chairmans-annual-statement-2007/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=South African Institute of International Affairs |title=National Chairman's Annual Statement 2007 |date=27 March 2007 |url=https://saiia.org.za/news/national-chairmans-annual-statement-2007/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{southafricaninstituteofinternationalaffairs2007national, author = {{South African Institute of International Affairs}}, title = {{National Chairman's Annual Statement 2007}}, publisher = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2007}, month = mar, url = {https://saiia.org.za/news/national-chairmans-annual-statement-2007/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }