ECOWAS Coalition and the Management of Regional Integration in West Africa
CHAPTER ONE
Objectives of the Study:
- Primarily, one of the fundamental purposes of this study is to evaluate the contribution of the ECOWAS Coalition in the promotion of the union’s integration dreams within the “West African Community”, especially with reference to cognate issues of trade, trade facilitation and development. It is vital to note that this study has placed emphasis on trade promotion, as trade represents the most significant propelling force in the stimulation of growth and development amongst similar groupings of nations, the world over.
- Similarly, the ‘global’ objective as expressed above is to examine the role of the ECOWAS and the respective agents/agencies of state in obliterating obstacles to regional integration or otherwise and especially with reference to trade promotion and development.
- This study will also explore best global practices, in the promotion of economic unification of disparate nations, within the continent of Africa, in particular, and the third world in general, whose long-term vision is, facilitating proper economic growth and development, with the aim of enhancing their citizens’ standard of life.
- Again, in a definable sense, the study will fittingly seek to examine the practical value of some trade and trade facilitation efforts of the ECOWAS and more importantly also assess the performance of trade relevant organizations such as the Customs, Immigration, Monetary System organizations and as public organizations. This would be done in the context of their roles in trade facilitation and development within the ECOWAS.
In a nutshell, therefore, this Study is about the integrative effectiveness or otherwise of public programs, strategies, policies, institutions and how they singly and jointly constitute both cogent and coherent forces of action and development within the 15 member-states in the ECOWAS coalition.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELEVANT LITERATURE AND THEORETICAL
FRAMEWORK.
Introduction:
The growth and evolution of international regional integration globally has been most dramatic especially in the last three to five decades. The most critical of such developments were more noticeable in Western Europe, especially with the rise of the European Union [EU] in the 1950s, with six countries forming the “pioneer class” of the economic bloc. By the middle of 1990s the EU had 15 members, with a long list of would be members. The organization closely coordinates several aspects of the economic policies of its members more especially in the areas of trade, immigration, labor and agriculture.
Outside Europe, the process of regional integration has been generally adjudged as very sluggish. Other examples of international economic and political cooperation on a non-regional but diverse basis could be sighted in the Commonwealth of Nations, Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, International Monetary Fund [IMF], United Nations [UN]. Others are the International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA], and in Africa, the Economic Community of West African States [ECOWAS], the Southern African Development Community [SADC], are probably the most notable sub-regional bodies. In Asia, the Association of South East Asian Nations [ASEAN] is most outstanding. In 1975, the ECOWAS was fundamentally established to promote economic cooperation between member nations in West Africa.
In this segment, it is imperative to reflect that apart from the efforts made in enunciating the emergence of relevant international integration bodies, the world over, this research would be telescoping the global phenomena from what we presuppose are diverse perspectives, which also infers that integration would be screened from the viewpoint of a number of erudite works. All these are to facilitate the augmentation of our horizons on the phenomena, thus assisting scholars and researchers identify some of the ideas behind them, in addition to sighting the challenges facing such processes, which sometimes are considered and viewed as major inhibitions to the process of integration especially in the developing world.
The experiences of these bodies especially those relevant to this dissertation have also been highlighted, all with a bid to enlarging and grinding our views and understanding of the major theme of this study.
International Integration Efforts – A Broad Perspective
Regional international integration efforts globally, were pivoted upon the fundamental pillars of commerce, trade and foreign exchange, and they are located in the annals of the advancing phenomenon of global communications, fundamentally motivated by changes in technology and other key political considerations.
An International Organization refers to a group that is membership – based, and that operates across national borders for explicitly defined purposes. No doubt, scholars of politics and international studies, consider international organizations, as bodies, whose global significance has always been on the increase, especially as they affect intensely, world politics. As noted earlier, examples of international organizations are copious and varied and these include the United Nations [UN], the World Bank, the International Committee of the Red Cross, The Green PEACE e.t.c.
International organizations are mostly known to operate, as part of one or more international regimes. An international regime according to Goldstein [in his treatise titled “Historical Development of International organizations”] is a set of rules, standards and procedures that govern national behavior in a particular area. In further discussing other aspects of international organizations, Goldstein, added that examples of international regimes include arms control, foreign trade, and Antarctic exploration. He further reported, that international organizations are often central to the functioning of an international regime, giving structure and procedures to the ‘rules of the game’, by which nations must comply. Key examples of organizations that define and determine the rules in the area of trade for instance are the European Union, World Trade Organization, and North American Free Trade Association, Southern African Development Community, Association of South East Asian Nations, Economic Community of West African States etc.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Introduction:
The examination and evaluation of the ECOWAS as a coalition of member-states and as a sub-regional organization especially as it relate to issues of sub-regional socio-economic, political integration and development is the main purpose of this study. This chapter would be discussing the ways and methods adopted in collecting the study data, sources of data as well as how the analysis of the data envisaged to be collected would be pursued.
Furthermore, in order for this study to succeed in accomplishing its desired objective as amply expressed, the research design, which encompasses the typologies of data, collected, the methods of data collection have been more deeply elucidated in this chapter, and more specifically under the mentioned sub-headings below:
- Research Population, [2] Sample, [3] Sampling Procedure, and [4] Research Instrument. Other vital sub-headings are – [5] Methods of Data Collection and [6] Analysis of Data.
CHAPTER FOUR
THE BACKGROUND OF THE ECOWAS COALITION, INTEGRATION, TRADE FACILITATION & THE NIGERIAN STATE.
Introduction to the Background of the ECOWAS:
In this segment of our fourth chapter in our study on the ECOWAS coalition, an effort would be made at closely telescoping the diversity of ECOWAS as an historical entity as well as its geo-political landscape. From an appreciation of West Africa in its geographical form, we would be examining the rise and fall of the great empires of pre-colonial West Africa, the intrusion of colonialism and the consequent collapse of the great empires. The effects of these essential historical developments would also be focused in this section of our study. We shall also brail through the contours of significant challenges such as those of neo-colonization, sub-regional security and the inevitable rise of the ECOMOG option and very importantly, how the Nigerian state performed within the coalition. A brief and expeditious survey of the political landscape of Cote d’Voire, one of key francophone, also believed to be the strongest economically and therefore one of the group’s leading voices would also be core segment of the study. This in particular is with a view to demonstrating some of the critical challenges of instability that bedeviled a number of ECOWAS countries.
CHAPTER FIVE
PRESENTATION, INTERPRETATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA
Introduction
In this chapter, efforts would be made at presenting in a methodical and logical fashion the relational profile on the salient questions raised in this study and the findings of the research. Thus, the discussions of our results are closely interrelated to the series of hypotheses and the multiplicity of variables and questions that have emerged or arisen in the course of the study. In addition, we emphatically re-state at the same time that our presentation and analyses of data will be based on responses derived from diverse reactions and responses as presented by the various groups of respondents to our questionnaires or interviews.
CHAPTER SIX
SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS
Introduction:
The Research report was titled – “The ECOWAS and the Management of Integration in the West African Sub-Region: 1985 – 2005”. The report was presented in a total of six chapters and the investigation as titled above was focused on evaluating the ‘ECOWAS’ as an economic entity in the West African sub-region. The following were specifically selected for study:
1] Nation states / leadership and the challenge of regional integration. Some emphasis was for strategic inferential reasons placed on Nigeria more so in view of her status as the biggest economy in the sub0region.
2] Institutions of states and non-state institutions that may be directly or indirectly responsible for diverse aspects of integration or trade promotion in particular such as the Customs and Immigration.
3] Actions or activities meant to facilitate general West African integration and intra-regional trade.
Recommendations for Further Research and Study:
Sources close to UNCTAD have identified that more than half of the population of the ECOWAS Sub-region (some 115 million people) live on less than one US dollar per day with 12 of its 15 Member States identified among the world’s least developed countries. The situation today may even be worse! These desperate circumstances inevitably mould and set profound limits on the Regional Integration [RI] processes. Even though these statistics have often been criticized as office-based and imperialist motivated, it is undisputable that such a large uneducated and subsistence-based population may clearly not be poised to take advantage of an expanded regional market or the opportunities. It is therefore vital as scholars of integration to note the impact of the twin issues of poverty and illiteracy on regional integration in West Africa.
Perhaps, one of the most dramatic and publicized example of a deepening political cooperation in ECOWAS involved the activities of the Standing Mediation Committee and the Ceasefire Monitoring Group (ECOMOG), which was set up in 1990 for conflict prevention and management in West Africa. The existence of ECOMOG offers testimony to how regional policies can and often must adapt to confront the political and social realities of a region. A retired Nigerian Army.
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