Contesting perspectives on South Atlantic maritime security governance: Brazil and South Africa

Faced with significant changes to the economic and strategic scenario in the South Atlantic over the past decade, the region’s two major powers – Brazil and South Africa – have taken divergent approaches to policymaking for the maritime sphere. Whereas Brazil has, in essence, transferred its terrestrial security policy to the oceans and maintains a state-based deterrent approach, South Africa has invested heavily in governance-based approaches at the national, regional and international levels. While results have been limited on both sides due to the South Atlantic’s subordinate status, this contribution argues that South Africa’s approach has been significantly more successful in attaining both national (and regional) goals and providing policy solutions for the South Atlantic Ocean as a whole.