Análisis del Espacio Schengen en materia de seguridad como base para la implementación del Protocolo sobre la Facilitación del Movimiento de Personas de la Comunidad para el Desarrollo de África Austral (SADC)

Abstract

The end of the Cold War presumed not only the triumph of capitalism and liberal democracy , but a significant change in the International System ; being less centralized and more regionalised due to the proximity and interdependence between actors (not only States) and allowing the formation of Security Complexes. .

The Security Complexes are an effective way to interact and approach the international arena because, through securitization and desecuritization, they achieve specific objectives. On this basis, both the European Union (EU) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC ) launched several securitization processes related to regional integration; one example being the abolition of border controls or free movement of persons: therefore, they considered that if they did not achieve it, it would generate political threats (influence and capacity for action were threatened) , economical threats (in terms of competitiveness and general well-being ) and societal threats (as to the identity of the community as a prerequisite for integration) that would jeopardize the very existence of their Security Complexes.

To this extent, the EU created the Schengen Area, which was the result of a securitization process from the early 80s to the mid 90s; and the SADC is immersed in such securitization process from 1992 to the present and expects ratification of The Draft Protocol on the Facilitation of Movement of Persons in SADC as a first step towards the elimination of the obstacles to the free movement of people.

While both the EU and the SADC considered that not allowing the free movement of people , integration and therefore their security complexes were at risk ; SADC has failed in ratificating the Protocol. It is essential to analyze SADC´s securitization process in order to find its shortcomings with respect to the success of the EU securitization process. The analysis is based on the Security Complex Theory of Barry Buzan , embodied in the work Security a New Framework for Analysis (1998) by Barry Buzan, Ole Waever and Jaap de Wilde and it will be divided into each of the steps of securitization: speech act (the issue is presented as an existential threat to a referent object through), the acceptance of a threat by a relevant audience and emergency measures to address existential threats; recognizing the differences and similarities of a successful securitization process against another that has not had the expected results.