Abstract:
At the heart of the conundrum of regional integration in Africa is the very
conceptual basis of the idea and its agendas. In southern Africa, the
agenda has for decades been about fighting poverty and enabling a
good life for the citizens of the region, but the so-called developmental
regional integration agenda is undermined by the lack of coherence
and synergy between the security and development arms of the Southern
African Development Community (SADC). The former has the Strategic
Indicative Plan of the Organ of Security Cooperation and Defence
(SIPO) and the development efforts are guided by the Regional Indicative
Strategic Development Plan (RISDP). Both claim to pursue
human security by placing the plight of ordinary citizens at the centre of
all efforts, yet in reality this shared aspiration has not provided a basis
conceptually speaking, nor practically, for a deep cohesion in the manner
in which SADC pursues its overriding goals. This article provides a
critical analysis of the evolution of the concept and it also anticipates
how it will evolve into a holistic idea in southern Africa. It identifies major obstacles to the achievement of the goal and offers possible solutions
to the conceptual confusion that confounds the idea of human security
by suggesting a comprehensive understanding of the concept and how
it might apply in southern Africa.
