Principal-agent power dynamics and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) stance on Zimbabwe, 2000-2013

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) adopted a non-confrontational stance when responding to Zimbabwe’s political, economic, and social challenges. SADC’s non-confrontational stance towards Zimbabwe ignored external pressure for the regional organisation (RO) to intervene in Zimbabwe and/or criticise Harare, a position that is inconsistent with SADC’s intermediate democratic identity, and reputation for intimate involvement in other member states. This thesis examines the poorly understood reasons behind SADC’s controversial and inconsistent non-confrontational stance towards Zimbabwe during the period 2000 - 2013. The purpose of the study is to proffer a more nuanced understanding of the regional governance dynamics behind SADC’s approach to Zimbabwe’s post-2000 challenges. Guided by the principal-agent theory, the thesis analyses whether SADC’s non-confrontational approach towards Zimbabwe can be explained by the principal-agent power dynamics in SADC. The thesis utilises the qualitative methodological approach for both data collection and analysis. Primary data is collected from key informants through semi-structured interviews and official documents such as SADC Summit communiqués. Secondary data is collected from journal articles, published books, newspapers, and magazines from both physical and online repositories. The collected data is analysed through thematic analysis. The findings of the study suggest that principal-agent power dynamics were indeed a key reason behind SADC’s non-confrontational approach towards Zimbabwe during the period under study. These principal-agent power dynamics included the limited delegation of power and strict control of SADC by member states. This limited delegation and strict control of power ensured that SADC decisions on the Zimbabwe issue always reflected the member states’ preferences and interests. The findings also reveal that member states at the apex of SADC’s hierarchy of powers – South Africa and Zimbabwe leveraged on their regional influence to ensure that SADC’s stance on Zimbabwe reflected their preferences and interests. These preferences and interests were a non-confrontational SADC stance on Zimbabwe. The thesis recommends future studies seeking to account for SADC’s behaviour and action to also focus on the principal-agent power dynamics in SADC rather than just norms as previous studies on the issue have done.