TY  - JOUR
TI  - Zambia’s Overlapping Membership in SADC and COMESA
T2  - INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS RESEARCH JOURNAL
IS  - INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS RESEARCH JOURNAL
KW  - Zambia
KW  - Overlapping Memberships
KW  - regional integration
KW  - Africa
KW  - COMESA
KW  - SADC
KW  - Regional Economic Communities
KW  - RECs
AB  - Africa’s aspiration for integration exceeds that of any other continent. This goal has resulted in an unsustainablesituation in which African countries frequently belong to two or more regional entities. It is vital to emphasize thatregardless of the shared objectives of any African regional economic community, most members will prioritize theirnational interests over anything else. As a result of this predicament, some countries, such as Zambia, have chosena strategy of overlapping membership, belonging to various organizations within the region. The study’s goal is toobjectively examine overlapping membership as a benefit and a barrier to regional integration. This article uses Zambia’sexperience in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Common Market for Easternand Southern Africa (COMESA) as a case study. This article examines Zambia’s overlapping membership in theseregional economic communities (RECs) using realist theory and integration theory. The authors find that, whileZambia is an active participant and reaps benefits in both regional communities, being a dual member of SADC andCOMESA presents economic and legal challenges.This article was submitted 17.01.2023
AU  - Gospel Singuwa
AU  - Chimuka Singuwa
UR  - https://iorj.hse.ru/en/2023-18-3/865780830.html
PY  - 2023
SP  - 107-119
VL  - 18