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Historical Background to the Reconstruction of Post-war Labour Markets in Southern Africa

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The Reconstruction of Post-War Labour Markets in The Southern African Development Community

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Abstract

The literature distinguishes three types of war, namely, absolute war, instrumental war and agonistic fighting. Some literature typifies war by highlighting, among others, colonial war; insurgency—including war of independence, war of liberation, civil war and fratricide; cold war; invasion and proxy war. This chapter is not about the typification of war. Rather, it briefly considers the history of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, to provide a background that emphasises five issues regarding post-war labour market reconstruction. Firstly, SADC states have been exposed to various wars that impacted their labour markets. Secondly, a historical overview of the creation of wage labour markets that emphasises the particularities of respective former colonial powers over subjugated territories in the region. Thirdly, wars led to decolonisation and changes of labour market regimes. Fourthly, different labour regimes define post-independence SADC countries. Lastly, the labour markets in some of those countries experienced ruin.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research (Wiser), University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Saint José Inaka

  2. SARChI Chair: The Political Economy of Migration in the SADC Region, Centre for the Study of Governance Innovation (GovInn), University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa

    Christopher Changwe Nshimbi & Leon Mwamba Tshimpaka

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  1. Saint José Inaka
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  2. Christopher Changwe Nshimbi
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  3. Leon Mwamba Tshimpaka
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Correspondence to Saint José Inaka .

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Inaka, S.J., Nshimbi, C.C., Tshimpaka, L.M. (2023). Historical Background to the Reconstruction of Post-war Labour Markets in Southern Africa. In: The Reconstruction of Post-War Labour Markets in The Southern African Development Community. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-37357-2_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-37357-2_2

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