Browsing by Author "Nel, Michelle"
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- ItemMilitary Law practitioners and academic discourse : a Sine Qua Non for developing military law(Stellenbosch University, Faculty of Military Science (Military Academy), 2017) Nel, MichelleThere has been limited development in South African military law since the inception of the Union Defence Force in 1912. Military law has mainly evolved as a way to enforce discipline in a force consisting of mostly conscripted members and a historical comparison of the relevant legislation shows no renewal in military justice or its processes in spite of a shift to a new all-volunteer force. Surely the approach towards discipline and military justice should also change. However, the limited development seen since was only brought about when necessitated by Constitutional challenges and external factors. This also seems true for the military law practitioners’ understanding of what military law entails. Generally military law is understood as the criminal law of the soldier, limiting it to the realm of military justice. Considering the expanding role of armed forces internationally, and the secondary roles of its employment, there is a clear need for a broadening of the definition and scope of military law as a discipline. The author argues that there are a number of other disciplines that can be of great assistance in a broadening of our understanding of military law. This article therefore argues that there is a critical need to develop military law as well as our understanding of what is entails. This then requires the development of a legal-academic discourse within the discipline.
- ItemSouth African maritime foreign policy : rethinking the role of the South African Navy(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, Faculty of Military Science (Military Academy), 2019) Blaine, Mark; Nel, MichelleThe military is one of the instruments that states use in the implementation of foreign policy within the security domain. As an arm of service, the South African Navy is the instrument of implementation of foreign policy in the maritime domain, playing a role in maritime safety and security as well as environmental protection. Although the concept of a maritime foreign policy is not defined in the literature, Van Nieuwkerk and Manganyi propose a working definition in this publication and it is against the background of this definition that the article reports on the traditional roles and classification of navies against the practical reality of an evolving maritime security context. The discussion then turns towards the maritime threats specific to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) while considering South Africa’s importance within the region and consequent maritime security responsibility. Considering the SADC Maritime Security Strategy and South Africa’s response to maritime insecurity, the study on which this article reports, questioned whether the South African Navy is in fact equipped to deliver on South Africa’s maritime foreign policy in its current de facto role of maritime diplomacy.