ABSTRACT
Since its establishment in 1992, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) has been one of the most recognised undertakings to foster regional integration in the global South. Numerous studies have traced its evolution from its predecessor, the Southern African Development Coordination Conference (SADCC) (see Anglin 1985; Sandberg and Sabel 2003; Torstensen 1982), and its departure from the idea of a loose economic cooperation between the Frontline States to reduce economic dependence on apartheid South Africa (see Abegunrin 1990; Mkandawire 1985) into what is intended to be a fully integrated regional organisation. SADC’s institutional architecture and authority have however been continuously questioned, and considering recent developments related to the negotiations of Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs), its actual form might cautiously be described as ‘contested space’.
