ABSTRACT
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is a sub-regional organization that has succeeded in fostering security cooperation as well as economic development. However, SADC states have moved towards regional integration at a painstakingly slow rate and have not accepted the creation of a supranational organization. The reasons lie in the nature of the Southern African region and the resistance of the Group of Front Line States (originally Tanzania, Zambia, Mozambique and Botswana) to the hegemony of apartheid South Africa. The genesis of SADC can be traced back to its precursor, Southern African Development Coordination Conference (SADCC), which was formed to counter apartheid South Africa's aggressive deeper regional hegemony. This tension continued into the post-apartheid period, inhibited regional integration, and caused disputes in the area of mutual defense and security. However, even as South Africa's relative strength was a regional handicap, it facilitated South Africa leadership, through SADC, at the continental level.
