Reinvigorating South Africa-Sweden Relations: Politics, Economics, And Society
The Republic of South Africa and the Kingdom of Sweden are often said to share a special relationship. This relationship, as Anna-Mart van Wyk’s article in this special issue illustrates, is firmly rooted in Sweden’s support for the Anti-Apartheid Movement. Since then, both South Africa and Sweden,...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
University of Johannesburg
2023-02-01
|
| Series: | The Thinker |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/The_Thinker/article/view/2353 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1832583659590254592 |
|---|---|
| author | Sven Botha |
| author_facet | Sven Botha |
| author_sort | Sven Botha |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
The Republic of South Africa and the Kingdom of Sweden are often said to share a special relationship. This relationship, as Anna-Mart van Wyk’s article in this special issue illustrates, is firmly rooted in Sweden’s support for the Anti-Apartheid Movement. Since then, both South Africa and Sweden, and indeed the world as a whole, have experienced significant political, economic, and social changes.
The bilateral relationship between South Africa and Sweden has grown since the former’s transition to democracy on the 27th of April 1994. To this end, South Africa and Sweden enjoy a bi-national commission and a total of 22 bilateral agreements1 (DIRCO, 2022).
In addition to these milestones, innovative initiatives have been established in areas of mutual concern. Chief examples in this regard include the South Africa-Sweden University Forum (SASUF)2 and the Cape Town-Stockholm Connect Initiative3, which seek to stimulate collaboration in higher education and business and technology respectively. There have also been developments in our cultural exchanges in recent years. One such example was the facilitation of the Sweden-South Africa Live Connection: Digitally Yours Campaign (hereafter the Digitally Yours Campaign) which sought to keep both countries connected virtually during the Covid-19 Pandemic. The Digitally Yours Campaign ran from the 4th of April 2020 until the 2nd of May 2020 and hosted a number of virtual exchanges4 whereby both Swedish and South African artists participated in roundtable discussions and cultural performances in the areas of fashion, poetry, and music (Embassy of Sweden in Pretoria, 2020).
|
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-742799828e054215939eb97d94791ccd |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2075-2458 2616-907X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2023-02-01 |
| publisher | University of Johannesburg |
| record_format | Article |
| series | The Thinker |
| spelling | doaj-art-742799828e054215939eb97d94791ccd2025-01-28T09:02:01ZengUniversity of JohannesburgThe Thinker2075-24582616-907X2023-02-0194110.36615/the_thinker.v94i1.2353Reinvigorating South Africa-Sweden Relations: Politics, Economics, And SocietySven Botha0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3957-9086University of Johannesburg The Republic of South Africa and the Kingdom of Sweden are often said to share a special relationship. This relationship, as Anna-Mart van Wyk’s article in this special issue illustrates, is firmly rooted in Sweden’s support for the Anti-Apartheid Movement. Since then, both South Africa and Sweden, and indeed the world as a whole, have experienced significant political, economic, and social changes. The bilateral relationship between South Africa and Sweden has grown since the former’s transition to democracy on the 27th of April 1994. To this end, South Africa and Sweden enjoy a bi-national commission and a total of 22 bilateral agreements1 (DIRCO, 2022). In addition to these milestones, innovative initiatives have been established in areas of mutual concern. Chief examples in this regard include the South Africa-Sweden University Forum (SASUF)2 and the Cape Town-Stockholm Connect Initiative3, which seek to stimulate collaboration in higher education and business and technology respectively. There have also been developments in our cultural exchanges in recent years. One such example was the facilitation of the Sweden-South Africa Live Connection: Digitally Yours Campaign (hereafter the Digitally Yours Campaign) which sought to keep both countries connected virtually during the Covid-19 Pandemic. The Digitally Yours Campaign ran from the 4th of April 2020 until the 2nd of May 2020 and hosted a number of virtual exchanges4 whereby both Swedish and South African artists participated in roundtable discussions and cultural performances in the areas of fashion, poetry, and music (Embassy of Sweden in Pretoria, 2020). https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/The_Thinker/article/view/2353South AfricaSwedenPoliticsEconomicsSociety |
| spellingShingle | Sven Botha Reinvigorating South Africa-Sweden Relations: Politics, Economics, And Society The Thinker South Africa Sweden Politics Economics Society |
| title | Reinvigorating South Africa-Sweden Relations: Politics, Economics, And Society |
| title_full | Reinvigorating South Africa-Sweden Relations: Politics, Economics, And Society |
| title_fullStr | Reinvigorating South Africa-Sweden Relations: Politics, Economics, And Society |
| title_full_unstemmed | Reinvigorating South Africa-Sweden Relations: Politics, Economics, And Society |
| title_short | Reinvigorating South Africa-Sweden Relations: Politics, Economics, And Society |
| title_sort | reinvigorating south africa sweden relations politics economics and society |
| topic | South Africa Sweden Politics Economics Society |
| url | https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/The_Thinker/article/view/2353 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT svenbotha reinvigoratingsouthafricaswedenrelationspoliticseconomicsandsociety |