The Southern African Development Co-ordination Conference (SADCC) was established in 1979 to eliminate the economic dependence of Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe upon the Republic of South Africa, and to create regional self-reliance – that is, economic development and regional co-operation. To attain these goals SADCC seeks financial and technical assistance from all possible public and private sources. Even though the standard operating procedures of transnational corporations (TNCs) would generally undermine the goals of SADCC, this article demonstrates that policies exist to prevent this happening, albeit simultaneously producing political disagreements with certain governments that belong to the OECD. To substantiate this argument, the article examines 1) the regional and international political economy of SADCC, 2) the relations between developing countries and TNCs, 3) the implications of these experiences for Southern Africa. – Notes, tab.
