Advancing African Interests at the UN: South Africa’s Voting Behaviour

Abstract

In 2007, South Africa began its first ever stint as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council  (UNSC). Very quickly, interested observers around the world expressed disillusionment over the country’s vote  against the condemnation of human rights abuses in Myanmar and Zimbabwe among others, essentially casting  doubt on the consistency of South Africa’s foreign policy choices in that multilateral forum. Was the perception that the Republic had demonstrated ambiguity over the purpose behind its foreign policy accurate? And secondly, if these votes were seen as uncharacteristic of South African foreign policy, by implication this would suggest that South Africa had always voted ‘respectably’ at the United Nations (UN) (since 1994). Could this be ‘validated’ in respect of  examining its voting behaviour at the UN since 1994?