Normative South Africa? A study of the norms that the EU aspires to extend to South Africa

Abstract: The EU has a legacy of being a normative power. They also have a history of cooperating with developing countries trying to promote these normative ideals. This cooperation is for example guided by the promotion of human rights, democracy and the rule of law to mention a few. The study aims to investigate this characteristica concerning the EU’s relations with South Africa. South Africa is a quite recent partner to the EU. When leaving behind the legacy of apartheid and becoming a democratic state cooperation between the two became a possibility. But the story did not end there. South Africa’s potential for growth has made them a regional power on the African continent. Today South Africa is the EU’s main trading partner of the African states. The aim of this study is to investigate if the normative role of the EU and the growing importance of South Africa thus investigating if the normative aspirations put forward by the EU have changed between 1994-1997 and 2006-2009. By using press releases and speeches the aspiration is to detect changes in the normative agenda