South Africa and the European Union

South Africa's role and status in world politics have changed significantly over the last four decades. In the latter half of the previous century it was banished into international isolation; then, after 1994, it was exalted as a model for peaceful transition and democracy. Throughout these changes, the European Union's influence was notable in its support of sanctions against apartheid South Africa, its aid to the victims of apartheid, and its post-apartheid commitment to restoring economic and democratic stability to the country. South Africa and the European Union - self-interest, ideology and Altruism documents the relationship between the most powerful economic bloc in the world and a country that has been regarded as a political "miracle". It is a relationship that has not always been as amicable as either party might have liked, yet it remains an essential one to both.