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Global Governance, SADC and Liberation Movements as Governments in Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

Southern Africa is a challenge to both institutions of global governance and the main tenets of the post-Washington consensus. Democratic transitions in the sub-region have faced obstacles and difficulties which question mainstream notions of political and economic development. Hopes for a meaningful political and socio-economic transformation of the regional space were challenged by sobering realities: the depth of the social crisis that afflicts Southern African countries defies standard strategies of poverty reduction based on limited asset redistribution and the introduction of cost recovery measures. While multilateral and bilateral donors still lack a coherent and coordinated strategy to tackle the region's multiple challenges, the academic community is split on the issue of how to promote simultaneously democratic accountability, the respect of human rights and social empowerment within the sub-region. The crisis of Zimbabwe is a particularly thorny issue for the international, continental and regional communities. The Zimbabwean regime's complex mix of authoritarian politics, radical land redistribution and anti-imperialist populism raises crucial questions concerning the meaning and content of the democratic project in each of the countries and puts also at risk the political stability of the entire region.

The panel contributes to the debate on the democratic transitions in Southern Africa, in particular the former settler-colonial societies of Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe. It analyse political, economic and social dimensions of transitions in these countries. These include the complex legacy of the armed struggles, the dependent position of the region within the global market, the growing international economic competition, the deep inequalities in individual access to resources and the many weaknesses in social sector provision. The panel also investigate the role of different international actors (multilateral and bilateral donors, regional organisations, activists, civil society organisations, etc.) within the region.

Speakers:

Dr. Arrigo Pallotti
Lecturer in African History
Department of Politics, Institutions, History
Faculty of Political Sciences "Roberto Ruffilli"
Forli Campus
University of Bologna
Italy

Dr. Mario Zamponi
Lecturer in African and Development Studies
Department of Politics, Institutions, History
University of Bologna
Italy

Henning Melber
Executive Director
Dag Hammarskjoeld Foundation
Uppsala
Sweden

Brian Adaire Christopher Raftopoulos
Head of Research and Advocacy
Solidarity Peace Trust
Cape Town
South Africa

Tom Lodge
University of Limerick
Ireland

Ian Phimister
University of Sheffield
United Kingdom

Organizer:

Dag Hammarskjoeld Foundation/ University of Bologna
Oevre Slottsgatan 2
SE-753 10 Uppsala
Sweden