SADC Barometer - focusing on key issues and trends in the SADC

The fourth issue of the SADC Barometer, a quarterly analysis by the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA), which focuses on key issues and trends affecting the Southern African Development Community (SADC), is available. The issue includes:
* Unlikely Bedfellows: The main article warns that although it has an important role to play, ‘civil society’ will not provide the panacea to our social and economic ills in the region. It points out that civil society itself is weak and divided and that SADC institutions are still relatively closed to real partnerships between the public and private sectors.
* Zimbabwe is still on the Agenda! Brendan Vickers looks at the events surrounding the Commonwealth Heads of State Meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, in December and concludes that SADC leaders might have overplayed their hand by rallying behind President Robert Mugabe.
* In the next year five Southern African nations will go to the polls. This is an encouraging sign for democracy and a challenge for civil society. Mike Davies finds out how the media, in particular, can contribute to free and fair elections in the sub-region.
For more information or comment, please contact the SAIIA SADC researcher and SADC Barometer editor, Richard Meissner on +27 (0)11-339-2021, e-mail: [email protected] or [email protected].