Chapter six discusses the theoretical and conceptual relationship between regional integration and global neo-liberal capitalism. The focus will be on how well the two approaches serve the African political economy from the applied ethics perspective. This chapter will explore how the two evolved in Africa and how they could be complementing or contradicting each other in serving Africa, especially the SADC.
Regionalism has been in existence for hundreds of years as far back as 1664 (Schiff and Winters, 2003:1), but efforts towards meaningful regionalism began at the end of the Second World War and got refocused after the cold war. Different models and approaches to regionalism have been noted and these have been informed by the regional environment and political and economic demands. For Europe, political and economic cooperation was perceived as a requirement to avoid the recurrence of wars which had the effect of spreading into World Wars. The immediate post-war environment required that the regional cooperation be modelled to contain wayward behaviour of nations and to manage political and economic issues which had the potential to cause violent conflict. For Europe, the period immediately after the war saw regionalism being modelled to ensure peace in the highly contested resource rich regions of Alsace and Lorraine, whose control was interchanged between France and Germany in the aftermath of many wars.
The thrust of the European regionalism then was to bring collective regional oversight over these regions to avoid further conflict. This saw the formation of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) which was established by the treaty of Paris in 1951 to manage coal and steel as common resources for the community of nations. This model was later to transform into the recent European Union as the environment kept changing and the interests also kept changing (Schiff and Winters, 2003).
For Africa, especially the SADC, similar observations can be made of regional integration models that were sensitive to prevailing political, economic or broadly security issues. Notable regional integration efforts in Africa started in the early 1960s when a number of countries had just gained political independence. The organisation of African Unity (OAU) was formed on 25
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May 1963 in Addis Ababa. The main objective of the OAU was among others, “…to rid the continent of the remaining vestiges of colonisation and apartheid; to promote unity and solidarity among African states; to coordinate and intensify cooperation for development; to safeguard the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Member States and to promote international cooperation with the framework of the United Nations” (Daddieh, 2016:58; African Union, 2017). The thrust towards regional integration for the OAU was to liberate African countries and assert Africa’s position as a united powerful player in an international political economy. This position was informed by the strong desire for the region to be free from the control and influence of the former colonial masters. Also important was collectively to be able to promote African interests in the international system. A coordinating committee for the liberation of Africa was formed with determination and undivided attention in seeking international support for the liberation of Africa and to fight against apartheid (African Union, 2017).
The bigger framework of Africa’s regional integration gave birth to regionalism in the Southern African region now commonly known as the Southern African Development Community (SADC). Before the SADC regional integration was transformed to its present state, it went through several transformations which were influenced by the prevailing political, economic and security situations.
In the earlier days the Front Line States (FLS) were formed and built on the guidelines of the OAU and the emphasis of the committee for the liberation of Africa for the liberation of countries in the Southern African region and to fight apartheid. Greater coordination on matters of security was noted. The regional coordination was later formalised with an additional role to bring about economic development in Southern Africa and the Southern African Development Coordinating Conference (SADCC) was formed following the Lusaka declaration of 01 April 1980. The SADCC still had the role to counter the security and economic threats from apartheid South Africa. The SADCC was formed to push forward the political liberation agenda in Southern Africa and to reduce dependence on apartheid South Africa. After the coming of independence to Namibia and Zimbabwe, the SADC was transformed to the Southern African Development Community on 17 August 1992 at a summit in Windhoek. Greater emphasis was then given to economic integration.
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The objectives of regional integration in Africa, especially the SADC, have been changing as the political economy of the region was changing. Despite these realignments of regionalism in Africa, most debates on African regionalism claim that if there is any regionalism in Africa it is premature and associated largely with “failed or weak regional organisations and a superficial regional economic integration” (Soderbaum, 2016:1). Many reasons have been given for the failure of regional integration in Africa. It should be noted, however, that regionalism the world over has taken a new thrust with the traditional state-centric approach to regional integration giving way to new other non-state players such as non-governmental organisations and multinational corporations. The state’s role continues to diminish, though it still remains essential in the sustenance of regional integration. The new regionalism appears to resonate with the emergence of global neo-liberal capitalist practices and globalisation.
As the calls for regionalism become louder, the role of the state continued to diminish with the increased dominance of global neo-liberal capitalism. After the end of the Second World War, meaningful regional integrations started to take shape and a new wave of global economic thinking developed. From the period 1945 to 1970, Keynesian economics dominated the economic models of many countries. States focused more on employment creation and alleviating abject poverty. The role of the state was significant in shaping the way forward. This was the time the cold war was at its peak and state-centric international relations were dominant.
Regional integration was shaped more by commonalities and convergence of state interests.
The monetarist economic approach replaced the Keynesian policies which focused on economic stability with the state reducing its involvement in economic issues. The monetarist policies were in fact neo-liberal. (Thorsen and Lie, 2007: 8). The end of the Cold War asserted the hegemony of global neo-liberal economics. The role of state on the international system continues to diminish and more new players are emerging in the discourse of regionalism. A new approach to regional integration in the form of the new regionalism is emerging, which seems to have a greater say in the character of present regional integration.
The development and changes that took place in regionalism were shaped mainly by the prevailing political, economic and security concerns at the time. In the earlier forms of regionalism states played a big role in determining the approach. The interests of the people were
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expected to be well presented in the understanding of the social contract in which the people had surrendered their welfare and security to be taken care of by the state. The policies that states adopted were expected to bring happiness or greater good to the people as argued by utilitarianism in ethics. Progressively, the role of the state has been diminishing as neo-liberalism has affirmed its dominance. Regional integration is being increasingly influenced by non-state actors. The state interests are no longer the major determinant of regional integration. Market forces have become significant as global neo-liberal capitalist practices have become more and more dominant. Regional integration has evolved, guided by state interest. At the same time neo- liberal capitalism has made inroads to gain influence in regional integration. How these dynamics have affected the success of regional integration and the welfare benefits of the majority of the people in Africa is what this chapter seeks to determine. It appears no study has been done to analyse how global neo-liberal capitalism has affected regional integration in Southern Africa.
In the first section of this chapter the focus is on how regionalism as a concept evolved, especially in relation to Africa. It will also analyse early forms of regional integration and attempt to see into the future of regionalism in Africa. In these discussions of regionalism, the writer will always seek to relate the evolution of regionalism in Africa with the developments in neo-liberal capitalism. Most importantly, this thesis will seek to determine how these dynamics would influence the future of regionalism in Africa and how the intended beneficiary in the form of the majority people has been deriving benefit (or not) from these policies. The second section is on neo-liberalism has transformed over the years and how it has influenced regionalism. The last section concludes and presents the findings of the chapter.