摘要:
This research is premised on the hypothesis that lack of industrialisation has impeded Southern African Development Community (SADC) member states' regional economic integration initiatives. It seeks to explain why this is so by zeroing in on an analysis of the impact of cultural imperialism on regional economic integration initiatives, with a case study of SADC in the period 1992 – 2015. The research hypothesis that lack of industrialisation within SADC is linked to cultural imperialism practised by former colonial masters and willingly inherited by SADC member states after the attainment of political independence. Core to the study is an examination of the response of political leaders of SADC as change agents or lack thereof to an initially imposed, but willingly inherited colonial consciousness and culture, which demeans Africans' belief in their own capabilities in science and technology, innovation and all knowledge systems which lead to development, but venerates that Europeans and Americans, and now also that of the Orient, leading to lack of industrialisation within SADC. The motivation for the research is the need to add new information to already existing literature on the reasons for lack of industrialisation within SADC member states. Qualitative and quantitative data collection methods were utilised in the process of gathering data. Questionnaires, interviews, and documentary research were used as data collection methodologies. Purposive and snowball sampling techniques were utilised in selecting relevant respondents. Qualitative data analysis methods were utilised in analysing the data. Chapter 1 introduces the study by tracing the origins of political and economic integration, particularly post World War II. Thus, whilst the research focuses on SADC, the researcher uses the European Union (EU) as the baseline for the efficacy of the SADC regional economic integration initiatives not only because the EU is the most successfully integrated economic reg