M.Com. (Economics) / The main purpose of the study was to investigate the role of economic integration in the economic development of the member states of an envisaged economically integrated Southern African bloc, that would include South Africa. The study contends that economic development will be aided, if economic integration were implemented correctly. Economic integration will influence both the allocation and distribution elements of the involved countries' wealth. Since economic development is inextricably entwined with the distribution of wealth, economic integration would have to give special attention to its effect on the distribution of wealth between countries. The mainstream theory of economic integration, however, places much more emphasis on the allocation aspect of integration than the distribution aspect. This imbalance means that economic integration, implemented according to the guidelines of the mainstream theory, will be detrimental to the economic development of especially the less developed countries. The orthodox approach to economic integration should therefore be adapted to the circumstances of developing countries. A suitable economic integration approach should comprise two steps. The first step involves the identification of areas for profitable specialisation, and the second the formulation of an economic integration strategy within the framework of a dirigiste approach to economic development. Porter's theory of the competitive advantage of nations served as the foundation for the formulation of the approaches to both economic development and economic integration in Southern Africa. Industry segments in which profitable specialisation could take place, were identified for South Africa, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe by means of Porter's statistical method, and afterwards classified in clusters. The development and integration approaches will be centred around the various identified clusters with competitive advantage.

D.Comm. / The objective of this dissertation is to examine the Southern African Development Community (SADC) as the logical outflow of market forces compelling regions or groups of states to increase the dynamics of their economies by removing all barriers and obstacles to the free flow of goods and services between them in accordance with what has been happening elsewhere in the world. The concept of regional economic integration has come strongly forward since the early fifties in many areas of the world. Regional economic integration can be described as a process by which countries work together for the mutual benefit of all. The exchange of information and ideas may lead to better institutional liaison and capacities, more coordinated policy formulation and more rapid economic growth. Regional economic integration can take many forms. Regional economic blocs may be classified into five categories, namely: preferential trading arrangements, in which regional partners enjoy more favourable trading conditions, including lower tariffs, than other countries; free trade areas, entailing the abolition of tariffs and other barriers to trade in goods and services between participating countries; customs unions, which entail establishing free trade areas, common external tariffs and the formation of commercial policies towards third countries; common markets or economic communities, which permit the free movement not only of goods and services but also of capital and labour between participating countries; and economic unions, entailing full coordination of regulatory, fiscal, monetary and exchange rate policies within the confines of a common market. Economic integration may ultimately, as in the European Union, culminate in a monetary union, providing for a common currency.

M.Comm. / Since the late 1980's / early 1990's Southern Africa has undergone radical political change. Political democratisation and liberalisation impacted on the economies of individual states as well as on economic relations between states in the region. The democratisation process in South Africa in particular, changed the economic power configurations of the region. South Africa opted to become a member of the SADC in 1994 after its first "representative" elections. The country was initially confronted by unrealistic expectations among the other members in the region regarding the contribution that they expected to emanate from this move. South Africa on the other hand was confronted with the realities of its own reconstruction and development needs. The question that had to be answered however, is how economic integration could contribute to the growth and development of the Southern African region. Of particular interest is the role that external forces could/would have on the integration process. This is the central theme of this document.

No abstract available. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2001.

The transformation of SADCC into the Southern African Development Community (SADC) has paved the way towards closer regional economic integration in southern Africa. The regional grouping no longer only focuses on sectoral cooperation, but is steadily moving towards increased cooperation in trade development and promotion, industrial development and the diversification of national economies, with the aim of increasing regional economic integration. A free trade area ranks second lowest in the steps towards the highest levels of economic integration. Thus, the signing of the SADC Trade Protocol, which serves to pave way for a SADC Free Trade Area, has initiated steps to facilitate and promote the formal economic integration of all countries in the southern African region. It has been noted that at various periods, the region has adopted a variety of approaches to integration. As such, the present study reviews the different approaches to integration, namely the market integration model, the neo-functional integration model, the development integration model and the theory of common markets. Since the essential question with which this thesis is concerned is whether, and to what extent, the benefits expected from SADC and SACU in terms of their aims and objectives have accrued to member states, an insight into the expected benefits arising from the application of each theoretical framework can help to facilitate an evaluation of the benefits which the countries have enjoyed from these two regional groupings. The thesis highlights that throughout the ten years during which the original SADCC was in place, it based its approach to regional integration on the neo-functional and development integration models, although the former tended to be more dominant. With the regional grouping transforming into SADC, the market integration model was adopted, even though the grouping still had features of the aforementioned approaches. The relevance of the three approaches can be seen in: (i) the continued importance of SADC's sectoral projects, particularly in the field of transport and communication: (ii) continued attempts to put in place a suitable regional) industrial development strategy and implement policies to attract foreign investment; and (iii) the signing of the SADCC Trade Protocol to facilitate the implementation of a free trade area. The thesis argues that member states have enjoyed considerable economic benefits from the SADC sectoral projects. However, in some cases, members have lost out on potential benefits as a result of projects failing to be implemented or completed, mainly due to inadequate funding. Further, delays and inefficiencies at some border posts constitute significant non-tariff barriers which could be a hindrance to intra-regional trade. Progress towards diversification of exports has been limited as the region still relies mostly on the export of the traditional agricultural and mineral raw materials. While all countries have made efforts to diversify their industrial bases, attempts at implementing a meaningful regional industrial development strategy have met with limited success. Intra-regional trade has been increasing over the years. Since the SADC Trade Protocol only came into effect in September 2000, the increased levels of trade integration in the region appear to have been a result of the bilateral trade agreements between countries, and the customs union between South Africa and Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland (BLNS), as well as the structural adjustment programmes and the significant growth experienced in some countries. Outstanding intra-regional trade volumes have been experienced within SACU. In trade terms, benefits have varied between member states, with the more powerful countries like South Africa, Zimbabwe and Mauritius experiencing substantial trade surpluses vis-a.-vis their trade, partners. Countries with bilateral preferential trade agreements have also benefited more due to increased access into each other's markets compared to those without or with bilateral trade agreements of an MFN nature. However, it is important to note that, despite the increase in trade integration in the region, southern Africa is still heavily dependent on the rest of the world for its export markets and as its source of imports. The study finds that intra-industry trade (IIT) exists within the region and, in a number of sectors, high IIT indices are recorded;--although some such sectors do not display significant trade - voIumes. The opening of the region through the implementation of the SADC FTA could promote the expansion of IIT .as-the free trade area )'Till create an enlarged regional market. As such, SADC could benefit from dynamic effects such as scale economies in production and marketing, with member states working on having complementary production structures so as to facilitate specialisation. The thesis argues that the potential for intra-regional trade expansion in the SADC FT A also exists bearing in mind trade complementarity between countries as well as revealed comparative advantages in different sectors. One of the benefits which have accrued to the region as a result of facilitating and promoting greater cooperation and deepening the integration process has been an expansion in cross border investment. The study finds that the 1990s witnessed a gradual increase in cross border investment to take advantage of investment opportunities in member states. South Africa has become the primary source of foreign direct investment flows to a number of SADC countries, with mergers and acquisitions being the dominant mode of its foreign direct investment. Cross border investment helps in supplementing low domestic savings, thus providing substantial parts of the shortfall in capital needed to finance economic growth and development. It can thus promote development in the industrial sector, transfer of capital, skills and technology, and development of infrastructure. Many SADC countries are unable to compete effectively due to lack of export supply capacity. The thesis suggests that capitalising on investment by South African firms could enhance local supply capabilities and raise export competitiveness. The study concludes that for market integration to succeed in the SADC region, the neofunctional and development integration approaches need to be actively pursued simultaneously, particularly with respect to infrastructural and industrial development.

M.A. / The rationale for economic integration is that countries combine to form regional groupings with the belief that this is a more effective way to improve their well-being politically and economically. Theories of economic integration show that integration may have both positive and negative outcomes. Despite the long standing debates on the negative consequences of regional integration, the dominant views indicate that regional integration may improve the welfare of member nations. The political decision has already been made in favour of trade integration within the SADC region. It is for this reason that this study has been undertaken to determine prospects and problems of economic integration in the SADC. Despite the anticipated problems and challenges for economic integration within the region, some studies and findings show positive prospects. The major findings of this study are that the region is on the right path to economic recovery, and has an opportunity to play a meaningful role within the world economy. The dominant and most industrialized, South Africa, will serve as an economic power within the region. The reform process that have been initiated by the SADC member countries have now put the regional economies on the right track. The region also had a remarkable economic performance as a result of the implementation of the positive macroeconomic policies and strategies. Although Africa is not the main player within the world economy, the region has a meaningful role to play, especially if the region's foreign trade increases by the estimated 18 percent. The role of South Africa as an economic power within the region is expected to serve as a spring-board of economic development within the region. It is also anticipated that economic growth within South Africa may spill-over into the whole region. The smaller SADC economies are likely to benefit from the relocation of South African industries into the region as a result of external tariffs vis-a-vis non member states, as well as higher South African wage levels. It is, however, acknowledged that integration would benefit some countries more than others. What is of paramount importance is that integration will leave all the countries either better off or not worse off, inside the grouping than the country would have been outside the grouping. This means that the economic welfare increases within the region as long as no member country will not be worse off than before joining the union. To remedy the possible unequal benefits of economic integration, compensatory and transfer-of-funds strategies will have to be adopted to minimize all the negative impacts of the imbalance between member countries. The SADC's global competitiveness changed lately as a result of initial steps toward integration and some member countries, are now ranked higher than most countries in the continent of Africa.

D.Phil. (Economics) / This thesis presents a discussion of the economic integration between South Africa and the economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China, the so called BRICs. The thesis analyses four channels of interdependence: trade, investment, business cycle and the increasing importance of shocks originating from China. It makes significant and original contributions to the empirical literature by employing several econometric techniques. In the first two cases, a global vector autoregressive (global VAR) model is used to analyse the trade and foreign direct investment (FDI) linkages between South Africa and the BRIC countries over the period 1995-2009. The results show trade linkages between these economies whose magnitude differs between countries. Shocks from each BRIC country are shown to have considerable impact on South African real imports and output. However, there is no evidence of FDI linkages between these economies. This shows that the notable performance of the BRIC economies are not transmitted to the South African economy by FDI flows, but rather through the exchange rates for some countries and trade for the others. In the third application, the nature of co-movement between South Africa and the BRIC countries is examined by applying the dynamic factor model to a set of 307 macroeconomic series over the 1995-2009 period. Particularly, the extent of co-movement between the cyclical component of real output across South Africa and the BRICs is assessed. The results show significant degree of co-movement between South Africa and the BRICs over the business cycle and the long-run, although the magnitude of the co-movement differs with each country. In terms of the lead and lag relationships across South Africa and the BRIC countries, the study ends that only India leads South Africa over the cyclical period. The findings suggest that the first two factors are BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) factorswhile the third factor can be considered a United States factor. The last application investigates, using a factor model estimated with quarterly data from 1995 to 2009, how China’s shocks are transmitted to BRIS (Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa). The results show that China’s supply shocks are more important than its demand shocks. Supply shocks produce positive and significant output responses in all BRIS countries. However, their extent is significant only for short horizon in India. Positive demand shocks from China have positive and significant extent on Brazil’s and South Africa’s output only. The intensity of economic relationship and channels of transmission of shocks are different between China and BRIS. The results based on the variance share of the common component suggest that South Africa and Russia are linked intensively to China, while Brazil and India have only moderate linkages with China. International trade is an important channel for the transmission of shocks across China and BRIS countries indicating that supply and demand shocks in China do not have similar extent on the BRIS countries and therefore they require different policy responses.

Thesis (MTech (Business))--Peninsula Technikon, Cape Town, 2002 / South Africa has long been a part of the region although it may be a new comer to some institutions established. One of the reasons why SADC was established was to reduce economic dependence on South Africa. The latter has since its first democratic elections been integrated into the region of South African Development Community which comprises of 14 members. South Africa commands an economy three times the size of all SADC economies. It is believed that the economic spread effects from integration with the South African economy will act as an engine of growth in the region. The effect of South Africa's economic dominant role on other SADC member states is a concern. The study seeks to determine the extent to which South Africa can be of assistance to other member States given its own internal problems such a unemployment and poverty. South Africa has a major role to play in terms of stabilising the region and given the expectations from the international community. It has vested interest in the region as it exports more than it imports from the region. The region has potential for investment opportunities and that is made impossible by political instability and political intolerance in the region. The SADC is faced with a serious question whether a member state can enter in the internal affairs of another member state whose internal activities adversely affect the economy of that particular country and that of other member states.

This thesis examines the security problematic of African states and focuses more particularly on the SADC region. It links the security problematic with the transactionalist approach to (supra)national integration and the concept of a security community, introduced into internatIonal relations theory by Karl Deutsch and his colleagues. In relation to the (in)security of SADC member states, the thesis attempts to demonstrate that national integration of these states (i.e. the establishment of an amalgamated security community) has at least to accompany if not precede the establishment of a security community at the regional level (i.e. a pluralistic security community). Since threats to the security of SADC member states are mainly nonmilitary in nature, the 'realist' concept of security is broadened to include political, economic, societal and environmental aspects of security at different levels. Furthermore, Deutsch's concept of a security community is redefined in line with the 'new security thinking' and adapted to the situation in African states. Moreover, this thesis attempts to demonstrate that it is essential for SADC member states to become strong and socio-economically cohesive in order to improve their competitiveness in relation to developed states, especially in their ability to deal with internal and ransnational/regional threats to their security, which are (in)directly caused and perpetuated by the lack of national integration, inefficient state-making and underdevelopment - the sources of their weakness.

The re-acceptance of South Africa into the international community has cleared the path for the closer integration of South Africa with its neighbours in a broader southern African regional union. In particular, the countries of the Southern African Development Community {SADC), which South Africa joined in August 1994, have committed themselves to the formation of a free trade area (FTA) over an eight-year period. The most likely impediment to this process is the perception of a highly unequal distribution of the economic gains and losses of such an arrangement. This reflects the particular context of SADC: one of a comparatively undeveloped region, dominated by a relatively large, more industrially advanced country, which is itself small by international standards. The essential question with which this study is concerned, therefore, is whether, despite the existing inequalities in the region, a FTA among SADC members could be mutually beneficial to South Africa and its partners. The thesis applies orthodox and new trade theory to the analysis of economic integration among unequal partners. Using the theoretical analysis, and with reference to empirical studies of such experience elsewhere in the world, it attempts to provide an assessment of the existing body of literature on the possible effects of a SADC FTA. In the light of this discussion, and from its own preliminary empirical analysis of the possible pattern of inter-sectoral versus intra-sectoral specialisation which may result on union, the study suggests ways in which a fuller evaluation of the welfare implications of a southern African FTA may be achieved. The thesis argues that the orthodox theory based on perfect competition provides an insufficient framework for the analysis of the likely effects of a SADC FT A. It finds that, firstly, in an alternative analytical framework which retains the assumption of perfect competition, there may be other criteria for judging the success of a regional union that are neglected by orthodoxy, particularly in the case of developing countries. Secondly, the new trade theory based on imperfect competition and product differentiation provides useful insights into the possible effects of a regional union among countries at unequal levels of development. The formal extension of this body of literature to the theory of economic integration is clearly called for. It is found, however, that neither orthodox customs union theory, nor its suggested alternatives and extensions, enable one to conclude, a priori, that the formation of a FTA in the southern African region could not be beneficial to both South Africa and its smaller partners. Further, the present empirical studies on SADC do not take account of the full range of factors necessary for a complete welfare assessment of the possible effects. Since the outcome of integration depends on the empirical circumstances of the particular case, and since the information necessary for a comprehensive welfare evaluation is not currently available, the study concludes that the countries of the region have committed themselves to a FTA without any definite knowledge of its likely effects.