SADCC as the First Step of Regional Integration in Southern Africa

Abstract

The formation of regional blocs and groupings in recent years became a stable feature of the world politics after 1945. The Conference on the Coordination of Southern African Development (SADCC) was formed in 1980 and later transformed into the Southern African Development Community (SADC), with the focus on integration of economic development. On the one hand, the main goal of the SADCC was to oppose South African apartheid, as well as to expand regional economic cooperation through effective coordination of the use of specific characteristics and strengths of each country and its resources. On the other hand, SADCC’s objectives went beyond just reducing dependency to encompass basic development and regional integration. This article reveals a brief history of the formation and evolution of SADCC as regional bloc and analyses the bilateral relations between SADCC/SADC and the Russian Federation. Methodologically, the article employed qualitative research by relying on the broad sources of data such as the United Nations official documents, and statistics of the specialized organizations. By applying a situation-structural approach to analyze and explain the development of institutionalized regional integration, the authors argue that, more than anything, the greatest success of SADCC/SADCC since its formation, was not only in creating a regional identity, but in cultivating a sense of common destiny among the member states.