The Southern African Development Community

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– A successful regional organisation?

G3-uppsats i statsvetenskap VT 2009 Daniel Sundkvist Handledare: Emil Uddhammar Växjö universitet

Institutionen för Samhällsvetenskap

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Abstract

English

This essay deals with the topic of regional integration in Africa. Using the Southern African Development Community (SADC) as an example, it seeks to answer the question what constitutes a successful region organisation. To do this a number of criteria defining success were developed and subsequently applied to the SADC, the main one beeing the organisations ability to adapt to change. In order to be able to show whether and how the SADC has reacted to and accommodated changes, the analysis was built around a description of the historical evolution of the SADC(C).

The changes made by the SADC (political structure, membership, goals) have been summarised and assessed. Special attention was paid to the (potential) problems identified by Winfried Lang (1982).

Guided by the thoughts of Winfried Lang and the criteria used in this essay defining what constitutes a successful regional organisation, we find that the Southern African Development Community is rather successful. The SADCC seems to have created a good basis for integration, and the organisation has proven ist ability to adapt to changes, even if they are as all-embracing as the end of the apartheid regime in the RSA and the subsequent membership of the former opponent. One can thus suppose that the SADC could, if necessary, accomodate changed circumstances again, and is thus unlikely to become one of the many failed regional organisations in Africa.

Svenska

Den här uppsatsen behandlar ämnet regional integration i Africa. Genom att använda Southern African Development Community (SADC) som exempel, försöker uppsatsen att besvara frågan vad en framgångsrik regional organisation verkligen är.

För att göra detta har ett antal kriterier utvecklats och därefter tillämpats på SADC.

Det viktigaste kriteriet i uppsatsen är ifall organisation har förmågan att förändra och förnya sig själv vid behov. För att kunna utvärdera om och hur SADC har reagerat på och anpassat sig till förändringar, består analysen av en historisk återgivelse av SADC(C)’s viktigaste episoder. Organisationens förändringar (politiska, strukturella, medlemskap, målsättningar) har blivit sammanfattade och utvärderade. Extra hänsyn har tagits till Winfried Lang, som identifierat (möjliga) problem som kan uppstå vid regional integration.

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Vägledd av Winfried Lang’s tankar och de kriterier som använts i uppsatsen för att definiera en framgångsrik organisation, så blir slutsatsen att Southern African Development Community är en relativt framgångsrik regional organisation.

Föregångaren SADCC gav organisationen en bra grundval för djupare integration.

SADC har bevisat att den kan anpassa sig till förändringar, till och med om det handlar om en sådan enorm förändring som att låta Sydafrika bli ett medlemsland, efter att ifrån början ha haft som målsättning att distansera sig ifrån densamme. Man kan därför anta att SADC vid behov skulle kunna förändra sig igen, om det skulle krävas för vidare samarbete. Det är därför inom överskådlig tid troligt att organisationen fortsätter att vara en framgång och relativt otroligt att organisationen kommer att ingå i den långa raden av misslyckade regionala samarbeten som finns i Afrika.

Deutsch

Die vorliegende Arbeit befasst sich mit dem Thema regionaler Integration in Afrika.

Am Beispiel der Southern African Development Community (SADC) soll die Frage beantwortet werden, was eine erfolgreiche Organisation ausmacht. Zu diesem Zweck wurden Kriterien für Erfolg entwickelt, die anschließend auf das genannte Fallbeispiel, die Entwicklung der SADC, angewendet wurden. Die Veränderungen in politischer Struktur, Mitgliedschaft und Zielen, die von der Organisation seit ihrer Gründung vorgenommen wurden, wurden zusammengefasst und, basierend auf den genannten Kriterien, eingeordnet. Dabei wurde den von Winfried Lang identifizierten potentiellen Problemen in Entwicklungsländern besondere Beachtung geschenkt.

Die Analyse kommt zu dem Ergebnis, dass die SADC eine vergleichsweise erfolgreiche regionale Organisation in Afrika darstellt. So scheint ihre Vorgängerin, die SADCC, eine stabile Grundlage für weiterreichende Integration geschaffen zu haben. Auch haben die tiefgreifenden Veränderungen zu Beginn der 90er Jahre gezeigt, dass die SADC in der Lage ist, ihre Strukturen, Mitgliedschaft und Ziele an veränderte Umstände anzupassen. Auf der Grundlage dieser Beobachtung lässt sich vermuten, dass die Organisation auch in Zukunft in der Lage sein wird zu bestehen, und sich nicht in die Liste der vielen gescheiterten regionalen Organisationen in Afrika einreihen wird.

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List of abbreviations

AU - African Union

AfDB - African Development Bank

CEMAC - The Central African Economic and Monetary Community

COMESA - The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa

DAC - Development Assistance Committee

DRC - Democratic Republic of the Congo

ECOWAS - Economic Community of West African States

EIB - European Investment Bank

EPA - Environmental Protection Agency

EC - European Communities

EU - European Union

FAO - Food and Agriculture Organisation

FLS - Front Line States

FTA - Free Trade Area

NAFTA - North American Free Trade Agreement

ODA - Official Development Assistance

OECD - Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

RISDP - Regional Indicative Development Plan

RSA - Republic of South Africa

SACU - Southern African Customs Union

SADC - Southern African Development Community

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TDCA - Trade, Development and Cooperation Agreement

UMA - The Arab Maghreb union

UN - United Nations

UNDP - United Nations Development Program

WAEMU - The West African Economic Monetary Union

WB - World Bank

WTO - World Trade Organisation

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1. Introduction

Since gaining independence in the 1950s and 1960s, African states as well as western donors have struggled to promote growth and reduce poverty in Africa. One strategy in this often less than successful fight is regional integration. Observing the global trend towards more regional cooperation (EU, NAFTA) evokes the impression that its proponents believe not only in its ability to stabilise regions and foster peace, but regard regional integration also as a means to escape poverty and promote development. In Sub-Saharan-Africa this is of great importance (Jenkins, 2001, p. 5;

Vogt, 2007, p.23), and the hope of imitating the economic success and political stability of the European Community certainly plays a part in motivating attempts at regional integration in Africa. The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is an example of an organisation that seeks to promote development through regional integration.

Regional integration may have brought peace and prosperity to Europe, but does that necessarily make it a suitable strategy for other regions as well? Using the SADC as an example, this essay seeks to address this question. By identifying a number of criteria for a successful regional organisation, it will be possible to tell if the SADC has been a successful organisation so far. A number of questions will have to be addressed: how can a ”successful” regional organisation be defined? What does regional integration actually mean? Could it be just another strategy in the African development discourse, which has seen numerous trends since the 1950s?

After specifying the research question and some important concepts, a number of authors and their contributions to the issue will be discussed. Special attention will be paid to criteria developed and applied by other authors, most notably by Winfried Lang in his book Der internationale Regionalismus published in 1982. As the literature review will illustrate, it is difficult to identify a satisfying set of criteria against which African regional organisations can be assessed. I will thus try to identify some criteria that can be used to assess an organisation such as the SADC.

These criteria are described in section four on methodology. Subsequently, the criteria developed will be applied to the case of the SADC, allowing me to answer my research question. The essay will conclude with the outcome of this application as well as its limitations.

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2. Research question

The purpose of this essay is to answer the question whether the Southern African Development Community is a successful regional organisation. Answering this question clearly precludes defining what constitutes a successful regional organisation. To do this, a number of criteria were drawn partly from the literature on regional integration in Africa and partly from comparison with other regional organisations, most notably the European Union. As mentioned above, these criteria will be discussed in detail in section four on methodology.

2.1. Concepts and definitions

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) today has 15 members:

Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. And there are around 250 Million inhabitants living in the SADC region (approximately half the size of the EU, which has 500 million inhabitants) (www.sadc.int). The SADC is one of the numerous regional organisations in Africa.

What is a regional organisation? In this essay, the term regional organisation describes an intergovernmental organisation whose membership is restricted geographically. According to the Penguin Dictionary of International Relations (1998), a regional organisation is one of the two basic types of international organisations, and – unlike international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) – is made up of sovereign states (The Penguin Dictionary of International Relations, 1998, S. 270). The European Union is a good example of an intergovernmental organisation with a geographical scope.

The definition “developing countries” in this essay relates to the politically and economically underdeveloped states in Sub-Saharan Africa. According to the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the OECD, all 15 members of the SADC are eligible recipients of Official Development Assistance (ODA) in the years 2008, 2009 and 2010. Nine of the 15 members are considered to be amongst the

“Least Developed Countries.” Only Botswana, South Africa and Seychelles are considered as “Upper Middle Income Countries”. Swaziland and Namibia are considered “Lower Middle Income” recipients (www.oecd.org).

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The term “marginalisation” is used in this essay for describing Sub-Saharan Africa as a region that generally has had very little impact on the global market and the global economy. The term “fear of marginalisation” refers to African concerns about being forced to stand beside the existing powerful trading blocs in the world without being able to compete (Jenkins, 2001, p. 8).

3. Literature Review/State of research

3.1. Regional cooperation in Africa

As described above the SADC is a regional organisation that has existed – albeit in changing forms – since 1980. Martin Adelmann (2003) and Jörgen Vogt (2007) both write about the development of regional organisations in Africa with particular emphasis on the development of the SADC.

“Modern Africa has experienced the creation of more than 500 intergovernmental organizations. Today, well over 200 of these organizations still exist, and new ones are continually emerging.”

(Adelmann, 2003, p.19)

This quote by Martin Adelmann illustrates both the existing will to cooperate in Africa, and the low rate of success that regional integration has had on the continent so far. In his book he discusses the reasons for this lack of success. According to Adelmann, the main problem of the African continent today is not the unwillingness to integrate, but the political and economic marginalization of Africa (Adelmann, 2003, p.19)

Vogt (2007) focuses on the process of integration. He writes about the historical background of integration in Africa and the cooperation that has existed in the sub- Saharan area for a long time. He gives examples such as England and France, which made the workload of administration in their colonies easier when they set up markets within their colonial states. They also coordinated the area into one custom union, which than provided for one single infrastructure within the colonies (Vogt, 2007, p.51-52).

Domenico Mazzeo (1984) and Winfried Lang (1982) both write about the aspects of regional integration. While Mazzeo wrote about the overall integration development

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in Africa, Lang focused more on the reality in Africa and the underdeveloped regions and described how theories and problems should be handled and gave palpable solutions. Based on a number of studies on regional integration in Africa, Winfried Lang compiled a list of potential difficulties specific to regional organisations in underdeveloped regions.

Lang states that values like “trade creation” or “trade diversion” cannot be used as measurements for judging the “quality” of integration in third world countries. What matters are the positive effects of cooperation on the single developing country. The aim of integration should be to foster development by increasing exports and growth.

If this is the case, integration can be evaluated as successful. Thus, for developing countries, determining criteria of “success” is essential. Firstly, a successful organisation must offer its members advantages that they would not enjoy as non- members, thus creating an incentive for membership. Secondly, the members have to coordinate through policy-making, probably even before the official creation of the organisation (Lang, 1982, p. 132-133). Thirdly, Lang mentions a general agreement on issues such as transportation, communication and monetary policy as an important precondition of a potentially successful process of integration. Lang argues that many problems can occur when developing a regional organisation with the goal of integration:

1. Deeper cooperation, which should increase trade between states through the creation of a customs union or a regional free trade area, may initially not be possible for developing countries.

2. Developing countries may not be “optimal candidates” for an economic cooperation, as they often produce the same goods, and are thus competitors on the world market. They are also often still dependent on their former colonial powers in many respects.

3. If industrial enterprises are unevenly divided in the region, referred to as a

“Wachstumspol” by Lang, which means that a power centre is established leaving other parts of the region without any chance of developing its industry. This can easily lead to tension amongst member states.

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4. Developing countries lack of a socio-economic basis; a functional domestic market, communication and transportation network and a capitalistic market orientation. Lang draws a parallel to Europe where these criteria created a very important basis for an efficient integration (Lang 1982, p.132-133).

According to Lang, if a regional integration process is to be successful, it is essential that the cooperation start in areas with a low chance of collision. Members of a supranational organisation should also possess a minimum level of self-awareness and self-assurance: giving away a part of newly won sovereignty to a supranational organisation after recently gaining independence is understandably hard in postcolonial states. Another factor to consider according to Lang is the low tolerance for power asymmetries between countries in the developing world, which makes cooperation between large and small states prone to tensions due to fear of hegemony by the former. Lastly, economic policy is a more sensitive issue in developing countries than elsewhere, due to the lack of resources, which makes it more difficult to compromise (Lang, 1982, p.134-135).

Lang’s arguments are very convincing, but theories about how Africa should escape marginalization have been discussed vigorously throughout the years. Development theories have come and gone practically since the African states gained independence.

And how underdeveloped countries in the very best way should invest time and money has been argued differently at different times of the 20^th century. In the following section, a short review of the main development theories since the 1950s will illustrate the fact that the perceptions and ideas about what development should entail and how it can be achieved have continuously changed over time.

3.2. Development theories

In the 1950s one of the main theses was that the countries in Africa were mainly lacking economical growth. Rostow’s model of economic development provided a popular solution for the problem on how to achieve development in Africa. His model describes the economical process in five major stages, and prescribes what society needed to do to reach its goal. The goal, the fifth stage in Rostow’s model, was to create a society of mass consumption (Preston, 1960, p. 175).

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The theories that were developed appealed to leaders and governments of different states, depending on how useful it was for the states to adopt a theory. Rostow’s model for example, appealed to states in the 1950s, because it was subtitled as a “non- communist manifesto”. Many authors have argued that western donor states largely provided ODA as a part of the U.S containment strategy, i.e. to prevent the spread of communism (Mayall, 2005, p. 296).

Other theories appealed to other states, such as the neo-Marxist theories or the dependency theories, which gained popularity in the 1970s, mostly in South America in the 1970’s. These theories claim that countries are restricted in their development by the global economic system, making it impossible for underdeveloped states to escape their position unless they “leave” the global system – at least temporarily (Preston 1996, p.195). Only with “reforms to internal and external structural linkages”

would there be any hope for such states to develop enough strength to be able to survive in the world economy according to the proponents of the dependency theory (Preston 1996, p.193).

In the later 1970s, when it became clear that the theories from the 1950s had not significantly improved Africa’s status, new theories gained popularity. One of the main theories debated frequently was Myrdals theory about how the economic system had to be put into a wider perspective¹.

In the 1980s, the dominating paradigm was that of neo-liberalists, who claimed that state intervention should be restricted to a minimum in favour a liberal of market where privatisation and trade liberation should be the main objective (Nuscheler, 2006, p.82-83). Developing countries were gravely negative affected of the dept crisis. Thus the World Bank (WO) now demanded rigorous structural reforms in

“exchange” for loans to the developing countries.

The late 1980’s and the early 1990’s also saw the emergence of the concept of

“ownership”. The Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, signed in 2005, defines ownership as the commitment of recipient states to take responsibility for their own development, and demands that donour states “respect partner country leadership and

1 Myrdal claimed that reforms had to be followed through not only on the economical system, but also on all levels: social, political and cultural. This was necessary, according to Myrdal, to get the socio- economic system on a positive or “upward path” of development (compare Preston, 1996, p.201).

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help strengthen their capacity to exercise it” (Paris Declaration, Article 2, Paragraph 15). The declaration can be regarded as an important document in Africa’s quest to overcome marginalisation.

3.3. The Southern African Development Community (SADC)

Regional cooperation is another concept that has been regarded as the best (and sometimes only) way out of the marginalised position of Africa (Adelmann, 2003, p.

6). In one of the most important meetings of the African leaders in the 1990s, the Kampala Forum 1991 Julius Nyerere spoke about change from within, to quote him in Adelmann (2003): “Nobody can marginalize us, if we do not marginalize ourselves. […].” And Adelmann (2003) writes how scientists over the world unitary declared the regional co-operation and integration of states in Africa as: “Königsweg aus der afrikanischen Krise” (Adelmann, 2003, p.5). As quoted above over 500 regional organisations have been created in Africa, but with very varying degrees of success.

“Successful regional integration will depend on the extent to which there exist national and regional institutions with adequate competence and capacity to stimulate and manage efficiently and effectively, the complex process of integration.” (The Windhoek Declaration from 1992, quoted in Adelmann 2003, p.56)

This means, according to Adelmann, that regionalism and integration in Africa will be (and currently is beeing) judged by the achievements of regional organisations such as SACU, COMESA and the SADC (Adelmann, 2003, p.39).

Based on the historical background of Africa, Vogt also discuss if there is “real”

cooperation between the member states in the SADC or if the organisation only exists

“on paper” or actually makes a different in the struggle for development (Vogt, 2007, p.30). The European Union is in this context widely regarded as the regional organisation that one should strive for. Some authors even argue that regional organisations should strive to “copy” the institutional design and goals of the EU.

This means, as Vogt puts it, that the SADC should be “designed” on the model of the EU, it should be build as a thought of regionalism, with a FTA as the first main criteria to fulfil (Vogt, 2007, p. 56).

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In the early and mid 1990s, the SADC was generally regarded as the most successful regional organisation in Africa (Adelmann, p. 50). After 1998, however, integration stalled due to conflicts in and between the member states and the dominance of the Republic of South Africa (RSA). Both Adelmann and Vogt argue that the power of the SADC depends largely on the role of South Africa, and mention its hegemonic position in the area and how this creates advantages but also causes problems. Vogt also claims that the problem of double and triple membership in other regional organisations in Africa and the numerous bilateral agreements both between SADC members, between members and third countries or agreements with organisations such as the EU can lead to conflicts of interests within the SADC and can make it more difficult, if not impossible, to develop a common position (Vogt, 2007, p. 57).

In the OECD report from 2001 Integration and co-operation in southern Africa Carolyn Jenkins argues similarly to Adelmann and Vogt:

“South Africa constitutes more than two thirds of the regional economy […] the regional dominance of the South African economy means that its unilateral actions inevitably affects its neighbours, and that it has a crucial role to play in any regional integration initiative”

(Jenkins, 2001, p 9)

Jenkins argues in her essay that regional integration is important for all members of the SADC, but she sees the vision of a regional trade liberalisation as insufficient.

She does not think that South Africa strives only for a regional development and she therefore suggests a more realistic development with a “global vision” for sub- Saharan Africa. (compare Jenkins, 2001 p. 9).

4. Methods

As mentioned above, the assessment of the SADC will be guided by a number of criteria believed to be essential for success in regional organisations in general and in the developing world in particular. The first criterion in the assessment of a regional organisation used in this essay is international recognition. Without international recognition an organisation is likely to be weak, not only externally but also towards its member states. Whether or not a regional organisation is recognised internationally

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is relatively easy to establish: Do other regional bodies or states acknowledge its existence in their documents?

While a lack of recognition likely indicates a weak organisation international recognition alone is not a strong indicator for success. Thus, after establishing whether the SADC is recognised internationally (criterion one), the organisation will be assessed against a two additional criteria, the main one being the organisations ability to evolve and to adapt to change (criterion two). I will focus my analysis on the question whether the SADC has been/is capable to adapt to change.

An organisation’s “ability to adapt to change”, its ability to adjust its goals (criterion three) and welcome new members is necessary for all regional organisations and not a criteria specific to development regions. Examples from the European Union

demonstrate this: since its creation in the 1950’s the EC/EU has increased its membership from 6 to 27. It has expanded the competences of its institutions and changed procedures of decision-making. Each treaty renewal since 1957 can be regarded as a reaction to changed circumstances. For example, the 2004 enlargement was clearly the result of the new political order in Europe (and the world), which lead to changes in membership and recounted changes in decision-making procedures.

And failure to adapt to changes momentarily creates a state of crisis – as the current difficulties to adapt the Lisbon treaty demonstrates.

The analysis will also assess changes in the SADC’s membership and goals (criterion three). In order to be able to show whether and how the SADC has reacted to and accommodated changes, the analysis will be built around a description of the historical evolution of the SADC(C). The changes made by the SADC (political structure, membership, goals) will be summarised and assessed. Special attention will be paid to the (potential) problems identified by Winfried Lang (1982). (Described in the literature review and in the box below.)

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Summary of Lang’s compiled conditions and problems specific to developing countries:

1 A successful organisation must offer its members advantages that they would not enjoy as non-members.

2 The members have to coordinate through policy-making, probably even before the official creation of the organisation.

3 Transportation, communication and monetary policy are important before starting a process of integration.

4 The cooperation should start in areas with a low chance of collision.

Conditions

5 Members should have a certain degree of self-reliance.

1 A “Wachstumspol” can easily lead to tension between amongst members.

2 Developing countries lack a socio-economic basis.

3 Developing countries may not be “optimal candidates” for economic cooperation.

4 Creation of a customs union or a regional free trade area may initially not be possible for developing countries.

5 Consider the low tolerance for power asymmetries in under-developed regions.

Problems

6 Economic policy is a more sensitive issue in developing countries.

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4.1. Regional integration in Africa: The case of the SADC

There are numerous examples of regional cooperation in Africa, the most well known include Southern African Development Community (SADC), Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), The West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), The Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC), The Arab Maghreb Union (UMA), Southern African Customs Union (SACU) and the largest one, the African Union (AU). From all of these regional co-operations this essay will discuss the SADC. Why investigate the SADC? Why not investigate a larger organisation like the African Union?

The Sub-Saharan African region is a very interesting area. Firstly the SADC is easier to grasp than a larger organisation like the AU. Secondly the SADC is a “true”

organisation with its own administration. More than that, the organisation has existed since 1980, even though other strong co-operations like the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) and the COMESA are competing with the SADC in the same region. Thirdly, the unique role of the RSA in the region as a hegemonies state in a development region, and the fact that all these countries do cooperate in the area, makes the sub-Saharan region very interesting. As mentioned above all member states are on the DAC list. And nine of them are considered to be among the least developed countries in the world. At the same time civil wars are ongoing in the region and the tension between the Sub-Saharan states is very high. The SADC is therefore a very good example of an organisation in a region with substantial economic and political problems.

Despite these difficulties the SADC was called “the most successful regional organisation in Africa” in the mid 1990’s (compare Adelmann, 2003, p. 53). In a paper produced at an OECD seminar Regional Integration in Africa (Braga de Macedo 2002) the SADC is described as a regional organisation that has advanced more than most other regional organisations in Africa. Lansana Kouyate writes that

“the South African Development Community (SADC) and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) have achieved some noteworthy results […]” (Kouyate, 2002, p. 142) Generally it is hard to find statements about which

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organisation is more successful. Nevertheless, the SADC is generally argued to be an important regional organisation in Africa.

4.2. Historical background

As mentioned above, the most important episodes of the SADC will be analysed and assessed to conclude whether the organisation is a success. The box below gives an overview of some of the important events that will be discussed in the analysis and are important milestones in the history of the SADC.

Year Event

1980 The Southern African Development Co-operation Conference (SADCC) was founded. As the analysis will show, the SADCC laid an important foundation especially in the areas of transport, communication and identity.

1992 The SADCC was re-founded and renamed to Southern African Development Community (SADC) in Windhoek. As the main goal and reason for the foundation of the SADCC has vanished (the apartheid regime in the RSA), the organisation had to adjust its raison d’être.

1994 The Republic of South Africa (RSA) joined the SADC. This constituted a significant change in membership due to the size and economic strength of the RSA.

2001 Structural reconstruction of the SADC is completed.

2005 15 member states in the SADC as Madagascar decides to join the organisation, There are at this point around 250 Mio inhabitants in the region.

2008 Establishment of a Free Trade Area (FTA) in the SADC region

2009 Currently, the SADC tries to establish a functional FTA and is at the same time working on implementing a customs union in the region (approximately implemented and functional in 2010)

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5. Analysis

In order to analyse whether the SADC is a successful regional organisation or not, the definition of success developed above must be applied to the SADC. As a precondition, it has to be discussed whether the organisation enjoys international recognition or not. This is necessary for further investigations to be meaningful – because if the organisation is not recognised by large bodies such as EU, NAFTA, WB or national states in general, it can be argued that this is a very strong sign for an unsuccessful organisation. Next, the organisations ability to adapt its structure, membership, goals and procedures to change circumstances will be analysed. Special attention will be paid to the organisations goals and the question whether goals have been adjusted throughout the history of the organisation

5.1. Criterion one: International recognition

When looking back on the foundation of the SADC(C), the organisation received financial support from the European Communities (EC) even before the organisation existed (Source: A. Wurm, 1997, p. 4). This does not automatically mean that the SADC(C) is recognised as a regional organisation, but it means that the SADC(C) and the European community had a dialog from the very beginning, planning the creation together

On the homepage of the SADC it states that multilateral agreements between the SADC and international bodies such as the EU, UN, FAO, EIB, AfDB, WB exists (www.sadc.int)

Thus, this means that the SADC is recognised internationally, because if it does not sign agreements collectively it could also just be bilateral agreements between the member states of the SADC – and not with the organisation as a whole. Does the organisation sign agreements collectively, like the EU does with, for example, the WTO?

In 2004, the EU opened trade negotiations with the SADC as one of the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs), which are to replace the agreement between the EU and the ACP states. After the expiry of the first Cotonou agreement in 2007, and with it the WTO waiver, the EU was forced to replace this broad agreement because the regional agreements from there on needed to take into account the development level

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of the individual states and regions, and has thus begun to conclude Trade and Development Cooperation Agreements (TDCAs) with single member states of the SADC.

The EU - SADC agreement that was about to be formed did not comply with the WTO rules. Therefore it today instead exist bilateral agreements with the ACP states in the SADC region and in the European Union (EU website, ACP).

This failure to conclude a collective agreement is thus due to WTO rules, and not a lack of recognition of the SADC as a regional organisation. It will be interesting in the long run to see what impact these separate agreements with single states of the SADC will have on the RISDP that the SADC tries to implement.

5.2. Criterion two: Ability to adapt to change

To be able to test the criterion whether the SADC is able to adapt to change, a historical background of the organisation’s most important stages has to be given. As the organisation is composed of ODA receivers (underdeveloped countries) the analysis will build around the thoughts of Winfried Lang (1982). Lang writes about the problems for developing countries to build and maintain a regional organisation and also discuss which criteria that are significantly important for regional organisations chances to survive.

5.2.1. Southern African Development Community

Despite the fact that the SADC was founded in 1980², the roots of the organisation go back to the 1960s, when the so-called Front Line States (FLS) coordinated their activities to support Zimbabwe’s struggle for independence. Angola, Tanzania, Zambia, Botswana and Mozambique were the first five representatives of the FLS, which gathered on presidential level with one single goal: join forces to help African states in their fight for independence (compare Vogt 2007, p.57-58). This corresponds to Lang’s assumption that “the members have to coordinate through policy-making, probably even before the official creation of the organisation.” And that “the cooperation should start in areas with a low chance of collision.” One could argue that in Africa, the best way of gathering support at the time, probably was by following

2 On the homepage of the SADC you can read that the organisation exists since 1980. In 1992 the organisation changed its name from Southern African Development Cooperation Conference (SADCC) to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) (www.sadc.int).

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the thought of pan-Africanism against the apartheid-regime in South Africa, and by doing so, act unanimously.

In 1979 the Front Line States (FLS) reacted to the creation of the Constellation of South African states (CONSAS), created by South Africa, which, at the time, was ruled by the apartheid regime. The basic idea of CONSAS was for the RSA to gain more influence in the region, prompting the FLS states, which opposed the apartheid regime, to establish the Southern African Development Co-ordination Conference (SADCC) (Adelmann, 2003, p.25). The second reason for creating the SADCC was the economical aspect. The states strived for interstate cooperation. Therefore the Lusaka declaration, the founding document of the SADCC, was titled Southern Africa: Toward economic Liberation. The process of founding the SADCC was promoted by the western states, not only politically, but also financially. They saw the creation of a regional organisation in southern Africa as a convenient way of opposing the apartheid-regime, and the European states and the United States hoped that a regional organisation would stabilise the area, leading to a better economical climate and better connections in the Sub-Saharan region (Adelmann, 2003, p. 26). Lang’s assumption that states have a hard time giving up sovereignty was not yet a problem, because the organisation at the time was intergovernmental in its structure, and in the annual summits only unanimous decisions were made (Lang, 1982, p.133-134).

The SADCC only partly managed to stay independent from South Africa. Due to the structure of the organisation, dividing responsibilities and distributing the workload between the member states the SADCC proved inefficient. Due to problems with different languages, competences and qualifications of the personnel in the different states problems of coordination emerged. At the same time the apartheid regime used an aggressive and effective destabilising policy towards the members of the SADCC, leading to an unpleasant economical situation were the states in the SADCC between 1980 and 1988 supposedly had taken damage of around 61 Billion US-Dollars (Vogt 2007, p.84-85). This scenario illustrates Lang’s assumption that “developing countries may not be optimal candidates for an economic organisation”(Lang, 1982, p. 133).

The members were not qualified in their respective areas of responsibility, which would had been necessary for further integration. Despite the problems, one could still argue that the Southern African Co-ordination Conference played an important

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role in the process of creating a foundation for a more “advanced” regional organisation. Lang claims that policy coordination is a important condition for the creation of a successful regional organisation. The SADCC as the predecessor of the SADC provided this important base. However, Lang also points out that integration should start in a policy area with low potential for conflict and describes economic policy as a sensitive area in developing countries. Apparently the common goal of opposing the RSA and reducing one’s dependency on the disliked regime was strong enough to prompt integration despite the unfavourable preconditions. The achievements that the organisation made were mostly in areas like communication, transportation and partly in the area of developing economic policies (much thanks to external investments from western countries) (Adelmann, 2003, p.27). This corresponds to Lang’s claim that coordination in the area of transport and communication are important preconditions for regional integration (Lang, 1982, p.

133).

5.2.2. New beginning

The “newly” founded organisation of the SADC in Windhoek 1992 was a logical consequence of previous events, because of several reasons: First of all, the political goal of the SADCC had been removed with the fall of the apartheid regime in South Africa. The former leadership in South Africa was removed from office, taking with it the SADCC’s raison d’être. The other main reason for the existence of the organisation had been the economical aspect. As an organisation that was rooted in the functionalist school of integration theory, it had previously been evaluated as a successful organisation, but the spill-over effects, mentioned in the above chapter on development theory, failed to emerge. This was attributed to the difficulties that the SADCC had had in the past to organise itself and its members. Also mentioned above, the coordination between the states was less than efficient in later years, because some states failed to do their part in agreements, undermining the organisation as a whole. The SADC Theme Document from 1992 states frankly that the SADCC did not have any major economical or political impact on regional cooperation and integration (Adelmann, 2003, p.26-27; Wurm, 1997, p. 137). Despite these deficits, the SADCC can be argued to have laid the foundation on which further cooperation and integration could be based. The organisation may not have been an economic or political success, but it demonstrated that a certain level of coordination was possible

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if states pursued a common goal. Now that this goal had been achieved, the re-birth of the organisation was the logical and necessary step to take in order to ensure its survival.

Other reasons for the founding of the SADC were external: If the states were to emerge from underdevelopment in the context of an increasingly globalised market, a unification of states and regions was essential. The world had changed from two camps into a more pluralistic system and regional organisations started to emerge all over the world. The end of the Cold War also made international organisations such as the WTO potentially more powerful, and coordination was pivotal for smaller and less influential countries in order to give their vote more weight.

For the members of the SADC this development created a situation in which the states had to take a stand in the issue whether they wanted to join another existing organisation such as COMESA³, or if they wanted to continue as an independent organisation. In the latter case, participation of South Africa was unavoidable due to the fact that the RSA was the strongest actor in the region, and it was hard, not to say impossible, to keep them out of the regional cooperation, both economically and politically. The members of the SADC made their choice and in the Windhoek Declaration of 1992 they welcomed South Africa to join the organisation “when they are ready” (Adelmann, 2003, p. 28).

Lang states, “an successful organisation must offer its members advantages that they would not enjoy as non-members”(Lang, 1982, p. 133). As argued above, the change on the global arena made it more important to be a part of a regional organisation, and in southern Africa the SADC constituted a powerful alliance, even more so when South Africa joined the organisation. Secondly, South Africa is so much stronger economically than the other countries in the SADC that an industrial concentration in South Africa is certain Lang refers to such a situation as a “wachstumspol” (See table, p. 15). This makes the criterion about the power balance relevant. But as mentioned above, all members in the region agreed (more or less willingly) that South Africa had to join the organisation for the greater good of the SADC, which means that the problem was “accepted”. One could argue that if an actor as strong as South Africa is

3 Several states in the SADC were at the time members of other organisations (compare i.e. Adelmann, 2003, p.37)

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allowed to join an organisation, the problem of concentrated economic growth might no longer be relevant. However, the power asymmetries between South Africa and the other members of SADC turned out to be a problem around 1998, reflected mainly in the tensions between Zimbabwe and South Africa. This corresponds to the problem of low-tolerance towards power asymmetries in undeveloped regions described by Lang (p. 133): in 1992 South Africa was “tolerated” but as it would later turn out, it was not that easy to tolerate a hegemonies state like South Africa.

The Windhoek Declaration of 1992 states that:

“[…] redefined the basis of cooperation among Member States from a loose association into a legally binding arrangement. The purpose of transforming SADCC into SADC was to promote deeper economic cooperation and integration to help address many of the factors that make it difficult to sustain economic growth and socio-economic development, such as continued dependence on the exports of a few primary commodities.” (www.sadc.int)

The SADC continued to strive for the same goals after 1992: economical integration and more cooperation. Even though the Windhoek declaration states that the organisation transformed to something else than a lose form of cooperation, its institutions continued to be “loose” until 2001.

In 1995 the first of Lang’s first condition was conclusively fulfilled when the SADC no longer allowed countries to have a double-membership in both the SADC and the COMESA, the other big regional organisation in Southern Africa. The SADC showed that they were “stronger” when countries possessing this double-membership (Lesotho, Mozambique and Namibia), all withdrew from the COMESA. And other countries (Seychelles, Mauritius and Democratic Republic of the Congo) decided to join SADC (Adelmann 2003 p.38).

Adelmann (2003) argues that the SADC is generally regarded as being the most successful regional organisation in Africa, and in the 1990s this may well have been the case. The organisation quickly developed, and with the accession of South Africa as the economical power (1994), the integration of the region developed successfully.

Of course there had been struggles and obstacles, but the SADC still maintained a

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developing attitude. In 1996, for example, the SADC created the Southern Africa Power Pool (SAPP). It generates and can allocate power “efficiently among SADC countries.” And Southern Africa also built growth poles. The most “significant” is the Maputo development corridor. It connects South Africa’s industrial heartland of Gauteng and the port of Maputo in Mozambique. The corridor “has become a model for integrated infrastructure development, [and] is expected to spur the growth of other projects and expand private sector investment opportunities” (Braga de Macedo, 2002, p. 104-105).

After 1998, however, integration in Southern Africa went into a stall. Adelmann mentions several reasons for this: the War in Congo, and, the competition between member states and the problem of power asymmetry between South Africa and other member states. Adelmann also mentions the lack of a political vision and structural problems within the organisation as reasons (Adelmann 2003, p.55).

“Successful regional integration will depend on the extent to which there exist national and regional institutions with adequate competence and capacity to stimulate and manage efficiently and effectively, the complex process of integration.” (Windhoek Declaration, quoted in Adelmann 2003, p.56)

5.2.3. Reformation of the institutions

The consequence of the weakening of the SADC around 1998 was that some of the members joined the COMESA again. The SADC needed to strengthen itself on a supranational level, to reach their common integration goals. To do this, the members gave the institutions of the SADC more power in 2001 by centralising them. Thereby the SADC became stronger and more coordinated than it had previously been (Adelmann 2003, p.58). Today, the SADC headquarter is situated in Gaborone, Botswana. As mentioned above, the 21 institutions had previously been divided and spread amongst the member states wherever the competences needed were provided for. The institutional reform merged them into five directorates, dealing with such matters as trade, infrastructure, agriculture and human development. These directorates were subordinated to the executive secretariat, which became significantly more powerful. The executive secretariat, in turn is subordinated to the integrated committee of ministers, which is the agency subordinated to the Council of

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Ministers and to the Summit, which consist of the president from each country, meeting annually. Additionally there is a SADC tribunal, a defence organ and the troika. The presidency of the troika rotates yearly (compare Adelmann 2003, p.60, 48).

5.3. Criterion three: Goals of the SADC

The future of regionalism will depend on the achievements of the regional organisations such as the SADC. This means that regionalism and integration in Africa will be, and currently is, judged by the achievements of the regional organisations such as SACU, COMESA and the SADC (Adelmann, 2003, p.39).

The Windhoek declaration of 1992 specifies principles that the SADC should follow.

On the SADC website the mission of the organisation is described as “sovereign equality of all Member States”. Its member states should strive for, and protect solidarity, peace and security; human rights, democracy, and the rule of law; equity, balance and mutual benefit; and also adhere to “peaceful settlement of disputes”(www.sadc.int).

“The signatories of the SADC Treaty agree that underdevelopment, exploitation, deprivation and backwardness in Southern Africa will only be overcome through economic cooperation and integration […]”.

And also that “[…] achieving regional economic integration in Southern Africa requires them [the SADC member states] to put their full support behind SADC to act on behalf of all Southern Africans for their common prosperity, peace and unity.” (www.sadc.int)

This ”mission” that the SADC strives to live by, is more then just rhetoric. In August 2003 the SADC created a plan on how to continue the integration process and strengthen the organisation even more. The plan, called the ”Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan” (RISDP) aims to improve the integration of the SADC.

It was designed for implementing and setting up checkpoints and goals when the integration of the SADC should reach the next “level” of integration.

“[…] in view of the need to monitor and measure progress, the RISDP sets targets that indicate major milestones towards the attainment of agreed goals.” (RISDP quoted in Vogt, 2007, p.209)

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Lang states that the ”creation of a customs union or a regional free trade area may initially not be possible for developing countries.” But the SADC had in 2003 reached the level where they created a plan for the future. The Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP), which described the exact goals of the organisation.

“In pursuit of this [SADC’s] agenda, SADC has adopted milestones to facilitate the attainment of the SADC Free Trade Area (FTA) by 2008, the Customs Union (CU) by 2010, the Common Market (CM) by 2015, Monetary Union (MU) by 2016 and the Single Currency by 2018. The SADC Free Trade Area (FTA) was launched on August 17, 2008 at Sandton, South Africa during the 28th Summit of SADC Heads of State and Government.” (www.sadc.int)

The Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP) is more than just an indicator for development in the trade area. For example the SADC previously had been supported economically with the equal amount of money by all member states of the SADC. This means that for example the two member states South Africa and Lesotho paid the same amount to the SADC household even though the difference in population and development in the two countries is huge. Since 2004, according to the RISDP, states now pay an individually set contribution between 5-20% to the SADC household. South Africa, which now has to pay many times more than the other member states, was convinced of the agreement by the fact that they make the most benefit from the integration process in the region. (Vogt 2007, p. 217-218)

In 2009 the SADC is still struggling with internal problems. Even though the free trade area is officially in place, it cannot yet be considered fully functional.

Other than that, one could argue that Zimbabwe is an unpleasant member in any organisation and a country like the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda are destabilising factors. Nevertheless, the SADC has partly managed to establish a free trade area in the region, an achievement amongst many others, which deserves recognition in a developing region like the Sub-Saharan-African region.

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6. Conclusion

In this essay, the success of the Southern African Development Community, which is a regional organisation with the goal to achieve integration and foster the economic development of its members, has been assessed. To do so, criteria related to the organisation’s ability to change were applied to the SADC. International recognition and the ability of the organisation to adapt its structure, membership and goals since its foundation in 1980 were assessed. The preconditions of successful regional integration in developing countries and the potential problems that may emerge identified by Winfried Lang in the early 1980s were given special attention throughout the analysis.

Guided by the thoughts of Winfried Lang and the criteria used in this essay defining what constitutes a successful regional organisation we find that the Southern African Development Community is rather successful. Looking at the development of the organisation we see a strong will to cooperate in the region, and the SADC/SADCC has now existed for almost 30 years, which in itself is a sign of a dynamic and adjustable organisation, two characteristics that make longevity of an organisation more likely. The SADCC created the foundation that was necessary for making development and further integration in southern Africa possible. However, the possibility of conflict in and between states in the Sub-Saharan-region remains.

Zimbabwe, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are three current examples of this danger, and for further integration the SADC will have to find ways to deal with insecurities caused by national policies of members that are counterproductive to the goals of the SADC.

Of course there are more potential problems and risks than can be covered in this paper, but it is not wrong to say that the Southern African Development Community has managed more than it was set out to do in the beginning of 1980 (SADCC), or even 1992 (SADC). The issue of identity formation, for example, was not addressed in this essay: it would be interesting to investigate whether the question of a common southern African identity is discussed as intensely as in the European Union, or whether this topic emerges only at a more advanced stage of integration.

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If the organisation would fail to “stick to the plan” this is actually not a sign of failed integration or even a setback, as long as the organization does not suffer fundamental losses such as trustworthiness and legitimacy and starts breaking apart from within.

The analysis shows that the SADC has struggled and continues to struggle with a number of “typical” problems encountered by regional organisations in developing regions identified by Lang (1982, p. 130- 135). But unlike a failed organisation, the SADC can hope for a common future. Whether this hope is justified will depend largely on how the organisation deals with its “difficult” members. Maintaining peace and public order in its member states will be one of the largest challenges in the region, as stability is a precondition for economic development. The RSA will likely play a determining role in the strength and success of the SADC. The willingness of South Africa to integrate the economies of the smaller member states will determine the strength of the organisation, both internationally and internally. Whether the RSA is willing to focus its efforts on its neighbours or prefers global partnerships remains to be seen, but is doubted by some observers (Jenkins, 2001, p. 9). In conclusion, the SADC has taken an important step when it managed to adjust both its membership and its goals after the end of the apartheid regime in South Africa. It successfully integrated the former “opponent” and has since focussed on other, mostly economic challenges, based on very ambitious goals. One can thus expect that the organisation will be able to adjust to new challenges, should they emerge. Based on the criteria used in this essay, this makes the SADC a successful regional organisation.

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List of references

Books

Adelmann, Martin (2003). Regionale Kooperation im südlichen Afrika. Karlsruhe:

Ernst Grässer.

Braga de Macedo et al. (2002). Regional Integration in Africa. Paris: OECD Development Centre Seminars.

Vogt, Jörgen (2007). Die regionale integration des südlichen Afrikas: Unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Southern African Development Community (SADC). Baden-Baden: Nomos.

Lang, Winfried (1982) Der internationale Regionalismus. Integration und Desintegration von Staatenbeziehungen in weltweiter Verflechtung. Wien, New York:

Springer-Verlag. Penguin Dictionary of Internationa Relations

Mazzeo, Domenico (1984). African regional Organisations. Cambridge: University Press.

Mayall, James (2005). The Shadow of the Empire: the EU and the Former Colonial World. In: Hill, C. & Smith, M. (eds). International Relations and the European Union. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 292-316.

Preston, Peter, Wallace (1996). Development Theory. An Introduction. Cornwall: T.J.

Press Limited.

Nuscheler, Franz (2006). Entwicklungspolitik. Bonn: Bundeszentrale für Politischer Bildung.

Wurm, Andrea (1997). Das Beispiel der Southern African Development Co- ordination Conference (SADCC). Wien: Südwind Verlag

Papers

Jenkins, Carolyn (2001). Integration and Co-operation in Southern Africa. Working Paper No. 172. Paris: OECD Development Centre.

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Online ressources The SADC website:

www.sadc.int

SADC Profile: http://www.sadc.int/icp/

RISDP: http://www.sadc.int/index/browse/page/104 European Union website:

http://ec.europe.eu

ACP: http://ec.europa.eu/development/icenter/repository/

OECD website:

www.oecd.org

DAC List: http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/62/48/41655745.pdf Paris Declaration: http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/11/41/34428351.pdf

The Southern African Development Community – A successful regional organisation?