Theory, Change and Southern Africa’s Future

319 Pages·2001·0.95 MB·English

by  Peter Vale, Larry A. Swatuk, Bertil Oden (eds.)

International Political Economy Series
General Editor: Timothy M. Shaw, Professor of Political Science and
International Development Studies, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia
Titles include:
Glenn Adler and Jonny Steinberg (editors)
FROM COMRADES TO CITIZENS
The South African Civics Movement and the Transition to Democracy
Glenn Adler and Eddie Webster (editors)
TRADE UNIONS AND DEMOCRATIZATION IN SOUTH AFRICA, 1985–1997
Einar Braathen, Morten Bøås, Gutermund Sæther (editors)
ETHNICITY KILLS?
The Politics of War, Peace and Ethnicity in Sub-Saharan Africa
Deborah Bräutigam
CHINESE AID AND AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT
Exporting Green Revolution
Gavin Cawthra
SECURING SOUTH AFRICA’S DEMOCRACY
Defence, Development and Security in Transition
Jennifer Clapp
ADJUSTMENT AND AGRICULTURE IN AFRICA
Farmers, the State and the World Bank in Guinea
Neta C. Crawford and Audie Klotz (editors)
HOW SANCTIONS WORK
Lessons from South Africa
Susan Dicklitch
THE ELUSIVE PROMISE OF NGOSIN AFRICA
Lessons from Uganda
Kevin C. Dunn and Timothy M. Shaw (editors)
AFRICA’S CHALLENGE TO INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS THEORY
Kees Kingma
DEMOBILIZATION IN SUBSAHARAN AFRICA
The Development and Security Impacts
Clever Mumbengegwi (editor)
MACROECONOMIC AND STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT POLICIES IN
ZIMBABWE
Nana Poku
REGIONALIZATION AND SECURITY IN SOUTHERN AFRICA
Howard Stein, Olu Ajakaiye and Peter Lewis (editors)
DEREGULATION AND THE BANKING CRISIS IN NIGERIA
A Comparative Study
Peter Vale, Larry A. Swatuk and Bertil Oden (editors)
THEORY, CHANGE AND SOUTHERN AFRICA’S FUTURE
International Political Economy Series
Series Standing Order ISBN 978-0-333-71708-0 hardcover
(outside North America only)
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Customer Services Department, Macmillan Distribution Ltd, Houndmills, Basingstoke,
Hampshire RG21 6XS, England
Theory, Change and
Southern Africa’s Future
Edited by
Peter Vale
Visiting Professor of International Relations
Stellenbosch University
South Africa
Larry A. Swatuk
Lecturer
Department of Political and Administrative Studies
University of Botswana
and
Bertil Oden
Head of Secretariat of the Expert Group on Development Issues
Ministry for Foreign Affairs
Sweden
Editorial matter and selection © Peter Vale,Larry A.Swatuk
and Bertil Oden 2001
Chapter 1 © Larry A.Swatuk and Peter Vale 2001
Chapter 2 © Peter Vale 2001
Chapter 8 © Bertil Oden 2001
Chapter 12 © Larry A.Swatuk 2001
Chapters 3–7,9–11 © Palgrave Publishers Ltd 2001
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2001 978-0-333-80276-2
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First published 2001 by
PALGRAVE
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PALGRAVEis the new global academic imprint of
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ISBN 978-1-349-42189-3 ISBN 978-1-4039-0101-9 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9781403901019
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Theory,change and southern Africa’s future / edited by Peter Vale,
Larry A.Swatuk,Bertil Oden.
p.cm.— (International political economy)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1.Africa,Southern—Politics and government—1994– 2.Africa,
Southern—Economic conditions—1994– 3.Africa,Southern–
–Social conditions—1994– 4.Africa,Southern—Forecasting.
I.Vale,Peter C.J.II.Swatuk,Larry A.(Larry Anthony),1957–
III.Odén,Bertil,1939– IV.International political economy series.
DT1182 .T47 2000
968.06’5—dc21
00–065263
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01
To the Memory of Carlos Cardoso,
Journalist, Freedom Fighter, Friend

Contents
List of Tables xi
List of Acronyms xii
Preface xv
Notes on Contributors xvii
1 ‘IR Theory, I Presume’: an Introduction 1
Larry A. Swatuk and Peter Vale
Introduction 1
Tool making and honing 4
Theory and reflection 8
Theorizing the discipline/theorizing the self 10
Choices, voices and futures 13
A note on organization 15
2 Dissenting Tale: Southern Africa’s Search for Theory 17
Peter Vale
Introduction 17
Southern Africa and the curse of the nation-state 19
3 Realism and its Critics 34
Hussein Solomon
Introduction 34
What is realism? 35
The progressive left challenge 37
Will the true realists please stand up? 38
Realism versus Nostradamus 40
Realism and the misappropriation of historical figures 42
Realism and morality 43
Realism and anarchy 45
Realism and the withering away of the state 47
Conclusion 55
4 Unstated Places – Rereading Southern Africa 58
Michael Niemann
Introduction 58
vii
viii Contents
IR theory and statism 59
The spaces of global politics 63
Spatial practices in Southern Africa 67
Representations of Southern Africa 72
Spaces of representation in Southern Africa 74
5 Regional Cooperation for Security and Development
in Africa 83
Björn Hettne
Introduction: Africa and global social theorizing 83
Globalism and regionalism 85
‘Regionness’ and regionalization 88
In search of African regions 92
Situating Africa in the world: regionalism and
global structure 94
Pathways from the periphery: security and
development regionalism 98
Conclusion 107
6 International Political Economy and Southern Africa 111
Balefi Tsie
Introduction 111
The nature and scope of IPE: a synoptic overview 112
State adaptation or state decline? The debate on the
role of the state in the world economy 121
IPE and Southern African development: the
dynamics and prospects for transformation
of the regional political economy 132
Conclusions 142
7 Is a Free Trade Agreement the Answer for Southern
Africa? Insights from Development Economic Theory 148
Merle Holden
Introduction 148
Agglomeration effects and trade diversion 149
Regional groupings in Southern Africa 152
Economic characteristics of SADC members 155
Convergence in SADC and SACU 155
Economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa 157
Trade integration in SADC 158
Redistributive effects of the trade protocol 158
Conclusions 163
Contents ix
8 South African Benevolent Hegemony in Southern
Africa: Impasse or Highway? 166
Bertil Odén
Introduction 166
What hegemony concept? 168
Definitions 171
Objection 1: the theory is not consistent with
official South African policy 173
Objection 2: global forces do not permit
South African hegemony in the region 175
Objection 3: South African capability is insufficient 178
Objection 4: support for a hegemonic regime
is too weak in South Africa 182
Objection 5: scepticism and low capacity in
other countries; weak institutional capacity in SADC 184
Conclusions 187
9 New Sites of Governance: Regimes and the Future
of Southern Africa 195
Andre du Pisani
Introduction 195
Conceptual issues 196
SADC as a regime: the weight of history 199
The programme of action: more programme than action 202
Institutional structure 203
SADC: from a ‘conference’ to a ‘community’ (1992–99) 206
Conclusions 216
10 Critical Theory, Robert Cox, and Southern Africa 219
Anthony Leysens
Introduction 219
Critical theory and postmodernism 221
Coxian critical theory: a framework for analysis 224
Implications for Southern African regional analysis 226
Concluding remarks 232
11 Feminist Theory and Security Studies in Southern
Africa: Yet Another Faddish Trend? 237
Lisa Thompson
Metanarratives and narratives in Southern Africa 238
Challenging dominant discourses 240