Africa: Regional Integration Processes

Regional Integration has been selected as the MOST Regional Priority Theme for Africa.

 

The nineties’ were a decade of fundamental change in sub-Saharan Africa, as a wave of democratisation descended upon the continent. As a result and almost unnoticed, a process of regional integration and cooperation evolved.

This regionalisation had a distinctly different character from the first integration efforts in the late sixties and early seventies. By then, regional integration followed two main objectives: the overcoming, or at the very least, the mitigation of the artificial barrier erected between the African peoples by colonialism; and, the ending of neo-colonial dependence of the young African States. Accordingly, regional cooperation was committed – at least theoretically – to import substitution and pan-Africanism.

In contrast, the nineties’ new focus was on committing to Africa’s integration into the global economy. Through regional integration, African economies were meant to become internationally competitive, attractive to foreign investors and capable of actively participating in the globalisation process.

  • Promoting awareness of the added-value that social sciences can bring to this process of regional integration, and
  • Fostering the dialogue between decision makers and social scientists.

It is within this perspective that MOST organizes a series of seminars on regional integration policies in the ECOWAS region, called “Nation-states and the challenges of regional integration in West Africa.” This programme shall allow for governments and organizations to capitalise on the achievements and the critical observations of researchers, and also promotes strong cooperation with policy makers.

See also

  • Second UNESCO Seminar in Cape Verde on West African regional integration, Praia, Cape Verde, 24-26 September 2007

  • National seminar "The Nation-State facing the challenges of regional Integration in West Africa: the Case of Cape Verde", 4-5 April 2007

  • Final Report of the National seminar in Cape Verde, 4-5 April 2007 (PDF in French, 3219 KB, or Portuguese, 3272 KB)

  • Status report on the MOST project “Nation-states and the challenges of regional integration in West Africa”, Dakar, Senegal, 20-22 March 2006 [PDF in French, 4 MB]

 

 

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