SADRN Policy Brief 6: The trade effects of regional economic integration in the Southern African Development Community

In their quest to achieve higher economic growth and development African governments have experimented with different growth and industrialisation models. Prominent among these is the import substitution industrialisation (ISI) model adopted after gaining independence in the 1960s and 1770s. It is widely believed that the ISI model failed, and after this came the idea of supporting growth through regional economic integration, specifically through the institutions of regional economic communities.