SOUTH AFRICA AND THE SADC STAND-BY FORCE

Abstract

The regional powerhouse, South Africa, has since the introduction of the nonracial democratic dispensation in 1994, played a central and important role in the
formation of both the regional and continental security architecture. With the
establishment of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in 1992,
one of the central areas of collaboration for the community was envisioned to be
security, understood within a broadened human security framework. Security was
therefore from the outset one of the cornerstones of integration in the SADC. It was
believed that the formation of a security community would help dismantle the
enmities that had plagued regional relations during the apartheid era. For some
parties, institutionalisation of relations pointed to a means of stabilising and
disseminating a particular order. Such institutions depict the power relations
prevailing at the time of their establishment, which, however, can change over time
(Cox 1981:136). The integration ambition surrounding security correlated with the
ambitions of South Africa, the new democratic government in the regional
powerhouse. South Africa and its overall foreign policy ambitions desired the
pursuit of peace, democracy and stability for economic growth and development in
the region and within South Africa itself.