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