Regional integration is widely offered as an alternative to overcome the
marginalisation of small economies within the global economy. But the
experience of Africa’s best performing economy over the last 25 years,
namely Botswana, offers some sobering lessons for the future trajectory of
economic integration in the region. A business survey released by the South
African Institute of International Affairs in 2005, hereafter referred to as the
SAIIA survey, found that Botswana faces various obstacles in ensuring that
regional integration benefi ts its economy, despite its substantial business
linkages with the region’s largest economy, South Africa (Grobbelaar &
Tsotetsi, 2005). This article looks at economic development in Botswana
within the context of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) as
a form of deeper and much older integration than the Southern African
Development Community (SADC) and highlights some of the pitfalls that
are accompanying the integration process in the sub-region. At the same
time it examines the country’s economic relationship with the region’s
powerhouse, South Africa.
Botswana’s experience is relevant for other landlocked countries in SADC
such as Swaziland, Lesotho, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe, as well as
its other small economies, not least because of this shared geographic
status, but because it is generally believed that a country such as Botswana
should be much better positioned to deal with the overbearing infl uence of
the South African economy. This argument is located in Botswana’s strong
economic performance, relative economic strength and status as a middleincome
country. However, this article will show that Botswana like most of
Africa’s small economies, which are highly dependent on one commodity,
is singularly affected by global conditions and its regional context. Its close
proximity to South Africa has brought both advantages and disadvantages
to the country’s economic development, as has its location in one of the
poorest regions in the world.