ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the regional strategy of the South African state under the Botha regime and its effects in its different phases since 1978. It attempts to assess the results and prospects, as well as the limits and possibilities of this strategy. The chapter deals with the historical context within which the Botha regime's regional policy was formulated. It discusses the institutional processes of policy formulation and examines the application of that strategy in practice and looks at the current balance of forces in the Southern African region. Historically the development of capitalism in Southern Africa led to the formation of a regional sub-system in which the principal poles of capital accumulation were located in South Africa. The Nkomati Accord marked the inauguration of the fourth phase of South African regional policy since 1978. A feature of the post-Nkomati phase has been Pretoria's attempt to use the Accord as a springboard to break out of its international isolation.
