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with successful industrialisation that had taken place under the apartheidgovernments from the 1960s onward. By the turn of democracy in 1994, it was thusa classical realist candidate for expansion, especially given the absence of any majorregional challenger, and its economic predominance over the region, and much ofthe continent. Not only did it appear that greater engagement by South Africa inAfrican – especially Southern African - and global affairs would not be discouraged,it was expected.As noted by then-Deputy President, Thabo Mbeki, in 1995,A distinguishing feature of South Africa is the sustained interest of the rest of theworld in the future of South Africa. The depth of this interest is not only confinedto government but includes ordinary people. They have not disengaged from SouthAfrica. The strength and the persistence of the international focus on South Africaputs the South African government under pressure to contribute positively andconstructively to the global community. 350“Thus, observers point to a striking continuity in foreign policy praxis (though notin its rhetoric) between the final years of the apartheid regime and the succeedingANC government”. 351 The continuities in objectives and foreign policy behaviourinclude the mercantilist thrust of foreign policy in southern Africa. Döpcke showshow South Africa’s Africa policy could actually have structural roots, founded in theeconomic relations with African states that were cultivated by the Apartheid regime,especially in terms of exports in the early 1990s. 352 He argues, in fact, that foreignpolicy reorientation (especially with respect to Africa) took place “well before theregime change”. 353 More than this, the foreign policy reorientation under the lastapartheid administrations, away from military coercion, in favour of more politicaland diplomatic means, had the added – not insignificant – benefit of bringing abouta shift in the balance of forces in the Botha government that eventually paved theway for more determined efforts in reaching out to the ANC, and the minor350 Thabo Mbeki. 1995. Cited in Address by Deputy Minister Pahad to the Heads ofMissions Conference, 18 January 1999. Accessed online at:http://www.dfa.gov.za/docs/speeches/1999/paha0118.htm on 9 March, 2011. Emphasisadded.351 Wolfgang Döpcke, “Foreign Policy and Political Regime: The Case of South Africa”, inForeign Policy and Political Regime, ed., José Flávio Sombra Saraiva (Brasília: InstitutoBrasileiro de Relações Internacionais, 2003): 281.352 Ibid., 281.353 Ibid., 302. Emphasis added.153