Connecting South-South Communities: The Narrative of South African-Malaysian Relations, by Muhammed Haron

Abstract

Comparative studies of states and their international relations are worthy tasks that scholars have undertaken in myriads of ways, which is what Muhammed Haron’s eight chaptered book, Connecting South-South Communities: The Narrative of South African-Malaysia Relations has done. It is an illuminating text on regionalism and the impacts of regional influentials in international relations, with a specific narration of South Africa-Malaysia Relations. The book begins with Muhammed Haron’s justification for writing it, which is to decipher the relationship that has been forged, over time, by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Of course, the relations between Malaysia and South Africa as regional influentials also constitute the primary focus of the book, which is an offshoot of Haron’s doctoral dissertation.