The dramatic political changes in South Africa since the 1994 general election coupled with the global changes that have swept the world political economy with the collapse of the socialist bloc countries compel us to re-think and redefine regional relations in Southern Africa. The old inter-state relations were marked by heavy influences of both Cold War and Apartheid and were consequently confrontational. The gun-boat diplomacy and distabilsation of the time effectively turned regional relations into a zero-sum game. The emerging new regionalism seems to be characterised by a positive-sum economic cooperation and a mutually beneficial diplomatic engagement among states of the region. This notwithstanding, hierarchical power relations still drive the process of inter-state cooperation and this attests to South Africa's continued hegemony over its neighbours: a phenomenon which is more glaring in South Africa's multi-faceted relations with Lesotho and Swaziland.
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