A southern African approach to the permanent sovereignty over natural resources and common resource management systems

Abstract

The answer to the question about the possibility of moving ‘towards the common resource management system’ in the region of Southern Africa must be negative. Three main reasons for this can be highlighted. Firstly, the level of knowledge and dissemination of the contemporary developments in international law is low and relatively superficial. Secondly, the pursuit of the national interests of the States and their political elite requires the maintenance of a classical view of the sovereign powers granted to States as subjects of international law. And thirdly, the regional ‘integration’ pursued through regional SADC is organized in accordance with the standards of inter-governmental cooperation. This may be a disappointing response in view of the latest development of international law, as it is perceived in the Western world. This frustration should be tempered, however, by the standards of an effective understanding of multiculturalism and the diversity of civilizations, in order for it to be acceptable that there are areas in which the African and Western worldviews do not coincide and can be reconciled only with difficulty.