SADC and aid donors influencing the civil society regionalization in southern Africa

Public release date: 22-May-2013
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Contact: Andreas Gods?ter
andreas.godsater@globalstudies.gu.se
University of Gothenburg

Aid donors and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) are restricting the autonomy of civil society organisations (CSOs) in southern Africa, affecting regionalisation processes within the civil society. This is one of the conclusions reached in a new doctoral thesis from the School of Global Studies, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

Since the mid-1980s, many parts of the world have witnessed intensified regionalisation. States, but also non-state actors, are reaching out across national boundaries to solve shared regional problems related to trade, security, development and the environment.

Previous research on these processes has mainly focused on state actors and inter-state frameworks. In contrast, Andreas Godster's doctoral thesis explores what the processes look like from the perspective of CSOs. In particular, his study focuses on southern Africa and the issues of trade and HIV/AIDS.

'Southern African CSOs are relatively active in regionalisation. They seem to take a more active role in regional governance than shown in previous research,' says Godster.

One example of this, he says, is that CSOs are taking part in regional policy development within the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and are also assisting both state and non-state actors with various social services at the regional level.

'Another example is "issue framing", where NGOs and networks are constructing trade and HIV/AIDS issues as being "regional",' says Godster.

However, at the same time as CSOs are more active than indicated in previous research, the thesis shows that their engagement may be limiting their autonomy. Godster says that the regional governance in southern Africa is dominated by a neoliberal agenda. CSOs that work in line with this agenda and for example offer trade-related expertise or AIDS-related services are more involved in the SADC than the CSOs that want to push the SADC to provide more support for informal tradesmen or promote the rights of sexual minorities.

'These dynamics have a strong influence on the regionalisation of the civil society since the CSOs that are well received by the SADC are strengthened in their regional work while others are weakened.'

Aid donors also play a role in this context. Development aid is a major incentive for regionalisation of the civil society. The dependence on such funding gives donors vast influence over CSO agendas, which in the end affects the issues raised and strategies used in civil society regionalisation.

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Title of the doctoral thesis: Civil society regionalization in Southern Africa the Cases of Trade and HIV/AIDS

The doctoral thesis can be downloaded at: http://hdl.handle.net/2077/32546

Contact:

Andreas Godster
tel. +46 (0)31 786 46 83
+46 (0)702 55 24 14

Supervisor:

Fredrik Sderbaum
e-mail: fredrik.soderbaum@globalstudies.gu.se

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Public release date: 22-May-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Andreas Gods?ter
andreas.godsater@globalstudies.gu.se
University of Gothenburg

Aid donors and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) are restricting the autonomy of civil society organisations (CSOs) in southern Africa, affecting regionalisation processes within the civil society. This is one of the conclusions reached in a new doctoral thesis from the School of Global Studies, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

Since the mid-1980s, many parts of the world have witnessed intensified regionalisation. States, but also non-state actors, are reaching out across national boundaries to solve shared regional problems related to trade, security, development and the environment.

Previous research on these processes has mainly focused on state actors and inter-state frameworks. In contrast, Andreas Godster's doctoral thesis explores what the processes look like from the perspective of CSOs. In particular, his study focuses on southern Africa and the issues of trade and HIV/AIDS.

'Southern African CSOs are relatively active in regionalisation. They seem to take a more active role in regional governance than shown in previous research,' says Godster.

One example of this, he says, is that CSOs are taking part in regional policy development within the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and are also assisting both state and non-state actors with various social services at the regional level.

'Another example is "issue framing", where NGOs and networks are constructing trade and HIV/AIDS issues as being "regional",' says Godster.

However, at the same time as CSOs are more active than indicated in previous research, the thesis shows that their engagement may be limiting their autonomy. Godster says that the regional governance in southern Africa is dominated by a neoliberal agenda. CSOs that work in line with this agenda and for example offer trade-related expertise or AIDS-related services are more involved in the SADC than the CSOs that want to push the SADC to provide more support for informal tradesmen or promote the rights of sexual minorities.

'These dynamics have a strong influence on the regionalisation of the civil society since the CSOs that are well received by the SADC are strengthened in their regional work while others are weakened.'

Aid donors also play a role in this context. Development aid is a major incentive for regionalisation of the civil society. The dependence on such funding gives donors vast influence over CSO agendas, which in the end affects the issues raised and strategies used in civil society regionalisation.

###

Title of the doctoral thesis: Civil society regionalization in Southern Africa the Cases of Trade and HIV/AIDS

The doctoral thesis can be downloaded at: http://hdl.handle.net/2077/32546

Contact:

Andreas Godster
tel. +46 (0)31 786 46 83
+46 (0)702 55 24 14

Supervisor:

Fredrik Sderbaum
e-mail: fredrik.soderbaum@globalstudies.gu.se

---

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?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-05/uog-saa052213.php

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