Emory International Law Review Volume 28 Issue 1 2014 Rethinking and Theorizing Regional Integration in Southern Africa Luwam G. Dirar Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarlycommons.law.emory.edu/eilr Recommended Citation Luwam G. Dirar, Rethinking and Theorizing Regional Integration in Southern Africa, 28 Emory Int'l L. Rev. 123 (2014). Available at: https://scholarlycommons.law.emory.edu/eilr/vol28/iss1/5 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at Emory Law Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Emory International Law Review by an authorized editor of Emory Law Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. DIRAR GALLEYSPROOFS2 7/28/2014 11:17 AM RETHINKING AND THEORIZING REGIONAL INTEGRATION IN SOUTHERN AFRICA ∗ Luwam G. Dirar Regional integration studies is characterized by, and normally understood as, a combination of inquiries from various disciplines. Conventionally, integration requires the amalgamation of political and economic policies. Yet, integration projects transcend political and economic cooperation and might even require harmonization of laws and principles. Scholars from legal, economic, and political sciences have studied and engaged in intra- disciplinary conceptualization of integration. Some of the theories that developed in relation to integration schemes in the developed North reflect socio-economic, political and historical factors of the North, casting doubt on the applicability, value, and consistency of those theories to integration schemes in southern Africa. Hence, this article is an attempt to conceptualize integration through a multidisciplinary analysis in order to proffer a broader conception of integration that encompasses local and regional emancipation movements in Africa in general, and in southern African countries in particular.