Title : The Absence of Common Values and Failure of Common Security in Southern Africa, 1992-2003
Working Paper No : 50 (series 1)
Author(s) : Laurie Nathan
Date : July 2004
Abstract: This paper seeks
to contribute to an inquiry into the factors that affect the
viability and efficacy of regional organisations in Africa as
peacemaking and security forums. The main aim of the paper is
to explain the Southern African Development Community's limited
success in peacemaking and in its efforts to establish a common
security regime. Three major problems are discussed: the
absence of common values among member states, which inhibits the
development of trust, institutional cohesion, common policies
and unified responses to crises; the reluctance of states to
surrender sovereignty to a security regime that encompasses
binding rules and decision-making; and the economic and
administrative weakness of states. These are all national
problems that cannot be solved at the regional level.
Paradoxically, the challenge of common security in Southern
Africa is less a regional than a national challenge.