Foreign policy and global presence: the strategies of Australia and South Africa

The Elcano Royal Institute is a think-tank for international and strategic studies that analyses world events and trends from a Spanish, European and global perspective.

The Analyses of the Elcano Royal Institute (ARI)are short pieces - of around 3,000 words - on aspects of current international affairs considered to be of relevance to Spain, its foreign policy or its security. In broad terms ARIs are intended to have a predictive bearing on events.Are national foreign-policy strategies effectively defining the national interest in countries far from their own borders? Do the objectives sketched out in national strategic documents evolve in accordance with these foreign-policy profiles?

To answer these and other questions, we shall analyse the external projection (as it relates to documents of strategic reference) of two countries confronting globalization in different ways: Australia, a middle power, and the Republic of South Africa, an emerging country.