Peter Batchelor and Susan Willett analyse the response of the South African defence industry to drastic cuts in military expenditure and the demilitarization of society since the end of the cold war and apartheid, and the stabilization of the regional security situation. The new ANC-led government is seeking to use the resources released - the `peace dividend' - to restructure and revitalize the country's industrial base and to support reconstruction, development, and redistribution. A lively debate on the country's security needs and strategic doctrine is under way. As in other countries, strategies of industrial diversification and conversion have met with limited success. In the absence hitherto of any coherent government policy on defence industrial adjustment, significant skills and technologies have been lost or wasted.

This book provides a historical analysis of South Africa's unique opportunity to develop new and innovative policies on defence and security matters, the arms industry and arms exports, and makes a valuable contribution to the international debate on the relationship between disarmament and development.