For South Africa a series of domestic and international shocks reflect a breaking international order. South Africa, like most of the world, has seen its national status transformed over the 80 plus years of the post Second World War political system. The UN and its sister bodies were designed by a generation shaped by two global wars that began in Europe and an international economic system that initially reflected a colonial trading system not one of sovereign states.
Now South Africa finds itself a Middle Power and member, not just of the UN and the Bretton Woods Institutions, but of the BRICS, G20 and of course the AU. It is a critical voice in shaping a new architecture that not only sees greater ownership shifting towards countries such as itself but more critically still a reshaping of the functions of the system to better serve the development needs of a country and a continent caught in an urgent race to build a society that provides opportunity and security for their growing populations.
For South Africa, like so many of its peers, the choices about national development begin at home. The old world of development paradigms and goals set internationally is being inverted by one where priorities are set nationally but where international experience of success and failure remains highly relevant.