“Na África Austral, cooperação como meio de resolver conflitos tem uma longa história” : um estudo de caso sobre a criação da Comunidade para o Desenvolvimento da África Austral (SADC)

Abstract

Southern Africa was the region of the African continent most affected by racial segregation that culminated in the white-minority rules of South Africa, Namibia, and Zimbabwe. Based on the study of the regional context of Southern Africa in the period between 1975 and 1994, as well as the previous decades, this thesis proposes to answer the following question: how the white-minority rules of South Africa, Namibia, and Zimbabwe indirectly influenced the creation of the Southern African Development Community (SADC)? Based on this research question, we intend to test the hypothesis that the creation of SADC was the result of strategies adopted by Southern African countries to contain white-minority rules in the region. Accordingly, this research aims to identify, describe, and analyze the strategies adopted by the countries of the Southern Africa region between 1975 and 1994 to face the white-minority rules. Faced with the research question, we opted for a qualitative case study of the descriptive-explanatory mixed type that will analyze the process of creating the SADC, based on the two preceding organizations, the Frontline States (FLS) and the Southern African Development Coordination Conference (SADCC). The thesis is divided into two chapters, the introduction, and the conclusion. In the first chapter, theories of regionalism, historical institutionalism, and the concept of white-minority rules focused on South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe are discussed, especially addressing the segregationist policies of these countries in the period before 1975. Finally, the second chapter has discussed the history and the strategies adopted by Southern African countries to confront white-minority rules in the region centered on FLS, SADCC, and SADC.