Processes for Developing and Adopting National Security Policies (NSP) Frameworks for Countries in the Global South! A Case of Southern Africa Development Community (SADC)

Abstract

The quest for security sector reform is topical among African countries. SADC is not exceptional to this movement which is being felt like breeze from ‘'Atlantic Ocean''. The need for transformative change cannot be written off given the trends in the Global South where inter-state and intra-state conflicts erode gains obtained from both political and economic independence. The purpose of the study is to appraise African states on the quest for change, from a security sector perspective, change which turn around not only political fortunes of African states but also socio-economic fortunes. In the same endeavour, in an attempt to articulate this phenomenon, Zimbabwe will be used as a point of reference not withstanding references to other countries both in the developing and developed world. The issue of security sector reform should not be understood only from a political perspective but from divergent socio-economic dynamics anchored on humankind. It is therefore a straight jacket issue in this paper that the concept of human development and perpetuity is at the core of this debate. Africa is our beloved continent and embracement of any form of reform-be it political, social, legal and or economic is at the heart of African ubuntuism and African renaissance. It should be understood from the onset that the views expressed in this paper are not prescriptive. The debate on security sector transformation is anchored on academic discourse and is subject to individual tastes and their levels of philosophical, ontological and epistemological interpretation and understanding.