Regional Hegemony and its Discontents: South Africa and India Compared.

The paper provides comparative analysis, based upon field research, into the thinking of South African and Indian leaders and strategists about regional hegemony. Both countries are well-positioned to be hegemons, with GDPs many times larger than the rest of the states in their region combined. South Africa acted as an interventionist regional hegemon during the apartheid era but has been a reluctant hegemon since majority rule was established in 1994 and has often acted within a regional organization, the Southern African Development Community. Exploiting this reluctance, Zimbabwe has challenged South African regional leadership since 1994. From 1947 to 1962, India was a reluctant regional hegemon, due to the pacifist leanings of Nehru. After losing to China in the 1962 border war, India began to assert regional hegemony, especially with its 1971 invasion of East Pakistan and the establishment of Bangladesh. However, Indian hegemony in South Asia has been continually challenged by Pakistan in alliance with China. Through comparative analysis, conclusions are drawn about the exercise of hegemony and the resistance that is most always encountered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]