Region-Building in Africa

"Rich with lessons of success and limited gains in advancing regional integration, the probing of historical, conceptual, and technical issues in Africa's continental and regional quest for integration and avoiding fragmentation makes this volume an enlightening contribution to contemporary social science. The span of scholarship and lived experiences of regional integration processes deserve to be pondered by politicians and technocrats alike." (Patrick I. Gomes, Secretary-General of the African, Caribbean, and Pacific Group of States) "This is a comprehensive, dynamic, and insightful collection of pieces about a diverse range of issues confronting efforts at region-building with a view to ensure human well-being, the protection of the environment, strong statehoods, and effective economies of scale. The book opens new vistas of opportunities for those looking for fresh ideas for research and pointers for policy action on region-building." (Siphamandla Zondi, Director, Institute for Global Dialogue, University of South Africa) "This volume brings together an impressive range of authors, including well-known names, emerging scholars, practitioners, and importantly a number of authors based in African institutions from across the continent. It is an important and interesting book which will make a significant contribution to the discipline." (Carl Death, Senior Lecturer in International Political Economy, University of Manchester, UK)

This book is a comprehensive effort to assess the challenges of region-building and regional integration in Africa, reviewing over five decades of experience. It looks in depth at all five African sub-regions and draws comparative lessons from Europe, Asia and Latin America.

This landmark book is the first of its kind to assess the challenges of African region-building and regional integration across all five African sub-regions and more than five decades of experience, considering both political and economic aspects. Leading scholars and practitioners come together to analyze a range of entwined topics, including: the theoretical underpinnings that have informed Africa's regional integration trajectory; the political economy of integration, including the sources of different 'waves' of integration in pan-Africanism and the reaction to neo-liberal economic pressures; the complexities of integration in a context of weak states and the informal regionalization that often occurs in 'borderlands'; the increasing salience of Africa's relationships with rising extra-regional economic powers, including China and India; and comparative lessons from non-African regional blocs, including the EU, ASEAN, and the Southern Common Market. A core argument of this book, running through all chapters, is that region-building must be recognized as a political project as much as if not more than an economic one; successful region-building in Africa will need to include the complex political tasks of strengthening state capacity (including states' capacity as 'developmental states' that can actively engage in economic planning), resolving long-standing conflicts over resources and political dominance, improving democratic governance, and developing trans-national political structures that are legitimate and inclusive.