International Institutions and Norm Socialization in Southern Africa : The Impact of SADC Peace and Security Norms on Botswana’s and South Africa’s Foreign Policy Towards the Crisis in Zimbabwe

Abstract

How do norms embedded in African international institutions affect state policies? In the last decades, the security dynamics of Southern Africa have seen radical changes. This is especially evident in the regional response to the crisis in Zimbabwe (1998-2009). This study focuses on two states – Botswana and South Africa – that have chosen unexpected and divergent ways of dealing with this regional challenge. The study applies Jeffrey Checkel’s theoretical framework of international socialization to each of the two cases with the purpose of (1)determining what mechanisms can explain the states' degree of compliance with the SADC peace and security norms, and (2) map out the scope conditions under which these mechanisms are enabled. The findings show that South Africa's foreign policy was a result of social influence from the regional in-group of former liberation movement states. Botswana's foreign policy was mainly the result of cost-benefit calculations independent of regional socialization. Simultaneously, this policy was facilitated by the norms embedded in SADC's legal framework. The study concludes that, due to SADC's lack of shared norms and values, issues of identity and identification are key to the success of regional socialization attempts.