Developmental Integration and Industrialisation in Southern Africa

Abstract

Since the beginning of decolonisation in Africa, regional integration has become one of the most potent defining characteristics of the continent’s quest for industrialisation and sustainable development. It was understood that the individual continental economies could not achieve the requisite level of industrial development to meet their respective development objectives due to the colonial policy of balkanisation, which divided the continent into small, economically unviable units. In 1992, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) adopted developmental integration, an approach to regional integration to engender industrialisation and address the region’s development challenges. This book offers a critical assessment and examination of this approach as to how it has influenced the industrialisation process in Southern Africa. If so, why has it failed to accelerate the region’s industrialisation and structural transformation process? It contributes significantly to cross-cutting development debates on the African continent, particularly in southern Africa. More importantly, in understanding the nexus between developmental integration and industrialisation.