Analysing the New Millennium Role and Place of Socio-economic Geography in Deepening Regional Economic Cooperation and Integration: The Case of South Africa and Zimbabwe

Proportional territorial distribution of productive forces historically determined the emergence of socio-economic geography. Deepening regional integration under scrutiny of socio-economic geography culminated in a system of economic regions. These economic regions were further used as special instruments on functional optimisation and management of productive forces guided by specialisation of labor. The process was influenced by scientific and technological advancements, which led to change from a single-sided to an integral multi-factor approach. In these circumstances socio-economic cultural regions emerged as functionally specialised territorial units presenting optimum combinations of productive and non-productive industrial sectors and enterprises. Within this context, the study analyses the role of socio-economic geography in better informing regional integration with reference to South Africa and Zimbabwe. New conceptual terms, such as socio-economic cultural disparities and territorial socio-economic cultural inequalities are proposed. Informed by transformation development theory, the study employs comparative methods of quantitative and qualitative data analysis. It analyses five aspects: (i) application of socio-economic geography to questions of regional integration; (ii) territorial differentiation, factors, forces and relations; (iii) Benefits of economic cooperation and integration for South Africa and Zimbabwe with global economy; (iv) essence of North-South and South-South dialogue; and (v) prospects of the role of socio-economic geography. The conclusions emphasise the role of socio-economic geography, using the newly defined concepts, in articulating a comprehensive theoretical and practical understanding of the processes needed to enhance regional integration.