South Africa: South Africa’s national interest must be people-centred and pragmatic

The national interest is a useful concept that does not receive sufficient critical engagement. Conceptually, it is considered to express the ambition or reason of a state. States must perceive, articulate and pursue their national interest.

In the early 1990s, the world consolidated around the Western-led rules-based order. South Africa joined by embracing a human-centred approach guided by the value-based Constitution. This turn to democracy ushered in a new political reality and a new…