Regional Cooperation for Development: A Review and Critique of the Southern African Development Coordination Conference

The Southern African Development Coordination Conference (SADCC) is a coalition of nine southern African nations united by a common desire both to reduce dependence on South Africa and to promote regional development. What follows is a review and critique of this recently created entity. Following a general introduction, the origin and history of the SADCC are discussed. Next, the criteria considered critical for the success of regional integration by integration theorists is presented, and the SADCC is analyzed in light of these criteria. However, because of the unconventional nature of the SADCC, the author argues that the criteria for success presented by regional integration theorists is not appropriate for an evaluation of the SADCC. Indeed, it is the primary thesis of this article that it is the unconventional nature of the SADCC—including, but not limited to its practice of avoiding supranational institutions, its flexible nature, its low-profile integrative goals, and the effects of continued minority rule in South Africa—which require that different criteria be developed for an evaluation. It is the pragmatic approach of the SADCC which accounts for its success to date, a pragmatism which will provide the key to the organization's longevity.