Regional integration provides several economic, political, and social advantages. Economically, it allows for specialization, access to goods not locally produced, establishment of large industries, investment attraction, and efficient movement of resources. Politically, it gives countries more influence, respects natural boundaries rather than colonial ones, and makes administration more efficient. Socially, it improves living standards, increases access to education, and fosters togetherness. However, full integration faces challenges, such as differences in political ideologies, inadequate infrastructure, fear of wealth sharing, potential neo-colonialism, unequal benefits, disagreements over industry locations, and power imbalances between members.

1. Economic advantages of
regional integration
 Specialisation that results when countries concentrate on
production of goods for which they have resources increases
production for individual countries and the region as a whole.
 Also countries do not try to produce goods and services which
are difficult for them to produce because they know they can
get those from member countries.
 Large industries are established at a reasonable cost because
such large scale industries will be supported by a large
common market. In this case it can be said that such industries
will enjoy economies of scale.

2. Economic advantages of
regional integration cont.
 New capital in the form of new industries is likely to be brought
to the region since investors will be attracted by the availability
of a wider market which promises bigger sales.
 Operation of common services reduces running costs because
of the advantage of economies of scale.
 Large common services have also proved to be more efficient.
 For example, economists have found that transport is run
better as a system covering an economic region rather than a
small network within one country

3. Economic advantages of
regional integration cont.
 Free movement of factors of production such as labour
and capital help the countries that have a shortage of
those factors to acquire them from member states
without any difficulties.
 For example if one member state is overpopulated,
labour can migrate to other countries where there is more
employment.

4. Political advantages of regional
integration
 View of the international matters can be taken more
seriously than when views come from individual
countries.
 Combination of neighbouring countries helps people to
ignore unreason able boundaries created by colonial
masters.
 As you may be aware, most boundaries between
countries in Southern Africa were drawn by Europeans
without any consideration for geographical, tribal or
economic patterns.

5. Political advantages of regional
integration cont.
 For example, the boundary between Botswana and
Zimbabwe around Ramokgwebana actually separated
families.
 Fortunately through the formation of SADC such
boundaries can be ignored
 Combination of countries into one large administration
unit makes administration and planning more efficient.

6. Social advantages of regional
integration
 Improvement of people's standard of living within the
region.
 For example, attainment of self- sufficiency in food helps
member states to address food shortages quickly
 Increased training and education opportunities within the
region reduces sending of students abroad where they
are more likely to find themselves not only too far from
home in terms of distance but also in terms of culture

7. Social advantages of regional
integration cont.
 Creation of togetherness among the people of the region.
 When people realise that they share a common history
and face similar problems as a people, they accept each
other as human beings and sympathise with others
facing similar problems.
 Furthermore, member countries are willing to help each
other in times of crises such as natural disasters.

8. Challenges of Regional
Integration
 Unification of countries is important but not easy to
achieve because of difficulties or challenges of bringing
separate countries together.
 Some of these challenges or difficulties are discussed in
subsequent slides.

9. Differences in political
ideology
 Regional integration brings together countries whose political
beliefs are different and this makes unification difficult.
 For example, SADC region has countries such as Botswana
following a mixed approach to production whilst others such as
Mozambique are following a socialist approach to production.
 Such differences are likely to affect decisions concerning
production.

10. Inadequate transport routes
Poor transport network prevents smooth movement of
goods between member states.
For example, in SADC region, Malawi extended her railway
line up to the border with Zambia but Zambia has not
connected railway line from that boarder to Lusaka.
This means that Malawi cannot get goods through Zambia
by rail.

11. Fear of sharing wealth
 Combination of countries into one state makes the rich
ones unwilling to share wealth from their natural
resources with the poorer members.
 They prefer to remain alone rather than join their
neighbours .

12. Neo-colonialism
 Invitation of multinational companies to the region gives
opportunity to developed countries to dominate the
region.

13. Unequal benefits among
members
 Observation has shown that rich members benefit more
from regional co-operation than the poor members.
 This is because rich members have the industries
already in place to benefit from the improved production
and trade arrangements whilst the poor less
industrialised countries have to start from the scratch.

14. Location of new industries
 Choice of location for newly planned industries is not
easy because all members prefer to have these located
in their own country.
 Members do not co-operate in giving information for
planning new industries because they are not sure that
these new industries will be located in their countries

15. Unequal status among
members
 Rich countries have more influence than the poor
countries and tend to dominate decisions made by the
region.
 For example, in the SADC region South Africa dominates
the region because it has high military power, financial
strength and economic development.