by Joan Swart | Oct 6, 2026 | Defence Policy and Strategy, Military strategy, SANDF, SOUTH AFRICAN POLICE SERVICE, STRATEGIC STUDIES
Abstract: South Africa’s Zama Zama crisis extends beyond illegal mining into organised crime, institutional vulnerability and national security. Tactical operations can disrupt activity, but lasting progress requires intelligence-led investigations, institutional...
by Joan Swart | Sep 20, 2026 | Defence Policy and Strategy, Global Power, Middle East, Military strategy, SANDF, STRATEGIC STUDIES
Abstract: Military power is constrained by more than weapons, soldiers and technology. From Napoleon’s disastrous Russian campaign to the US war with Iran and South Africa’s operations in Central Africa, the ability to sustain forces at distance can...
by Joan Swart | Sep 16, 2026 | Defence Policy and Strategy, Diplomacy, Energy Security, Global Power, Middle East, STRATEGIC STUDIES
Abstract: War-related disruption, economic pressure and growing public dissatisfaction are increasingly converging across the Middle East. The conditions differ from those of 2011, but their interaction could create a second-order dynamic in which external conflict...
by Joan Swart | Sep 5, 2026 | Defence Policy and Strategy, Foreign Affairs (RSA), National Security - Nasionale Veiligheid, South Africa, STRATEGIC STUDIES
Abstract: As the global order becomes increasingly multipolar, South Africa faces a strategic dilemma: it possesses significant geopolitical advantages but lacks a settled conception of its national interest. This article explores whether strategic culture,...
by Joan Swart | Aug 23, 2026 | Defence Policy and Strategy, National Security - Nasionale Veiligheid, South Africa, STRATEGIC STUDIES
Abstract: Foreign policy is often presented as a calculation of national interest, separate from emotion and morality. Yet national interest itself is shaped by history, values and strategic culture, raising a difficult question: when principle, international law and...
by Joan Swart | Aug 17, 2026 | Defence Policy and Strategy, National Security - Nasionale Veiligheid, South Africa, STRATEGIC STUDIES
Abstract: South Africa inherited distinct military and political traditions that were never fully synthesised into a coherent post-1994 strategic culture. Rebuilding effective military strategy and doctrine therefore requires neither restoration nor rejection, but a...
