The Janus Faces of a Middle Power: South Africa's Emergence in International Development

South Africa's rising international presence is undeniable. The country has recently joined the BRICS club of powerful emerging countries, is in the G20, is a member of IBSA (the India–Brazil–South Africa Dialogue Forum) and has aspirations to become a permanent member of a potentially reformed UN Security Council. Furthermore, South Africa has set up a new international development agency, a key marker of a middle power. And yet South Africa is not a typical middle power, given that half of its citizens live below the poverty line. Through various methods such as print and online media content analysis and interviews with policy-makers, journalists, civil society and international donors between 2009 and 2011, this paper examines the two different and divergent faces of South African politics – one focused on the domestic development state and the other focused on its international middle power aspirations.