Introduction
Regional economic communities in Africa refer to a group of countries that have come together to spearhead economic development and political stability through the integration of trade, production, macroeconomics, and infrastructure. Moreover, these communities allow the free movement of individuals between their borders as long as they are members of the regional community. Therefore, regional communities play a major role in sustainable and collective development across nations by allowing them to share resources and support each other’s ambitions toward a positive future. However, different regional communities attract different nations according to their interests to focus on integrating particular dimensions. Hence, this essay discusses the security and strategic features of the integration process in the ECOWAS and EAC regions.
Aim
ECOWAS is a regional economic and political community in West Africa, made up of a union of 15 countries. Although the first attempts to unionize countries in West Africa occurred in 1945, ECOWAS was not established until 1975 in the Treaty of Lagos, signed by fifteen West African States to spearhead economic initiatives. Its members include Guinea, Gambia, Mali, Guinea-Bissau, Nigeria, Niger, Senegal, Togo, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Mauritania, Cote d’Ivoire, Sierra Leone, and Liberia1. The community revised its powers in 1993 due to emerging political events, allowing it to cover political cooperation and economic stability. Nevertheless, the body also addresses security issues among its member states by using a peace-keeping task force to prevent conflicts in the region. Since its establishment, the community has promoted people-driven and people-centered regional integration and economic cooperation, which has significantly accelerated economic development in West Africa.
On the other hand, EAC is an inter-governmental organization currently comprised of six members, including Kenta, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, and South Sudan, with its headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania. The main purpose of the EAC is to deepen and widen the social, political, cultural, and economic integration between its member countries to improve the life quality of all individuals in East Africa by improving access to trade resources, investments, healthy competition, and value-added production2. Consequently, it has played a major role in the political stability and security of individuals in its member countries by intervening in conflict situations and sustaining an atmosphere that is favorable for economic and social developments.
Conceptual Clarifications
Economic integration communities play a crucial role in the positive development of member states by ensuring that they receive equal access to regional resources and the benefits of economic collaboration. Unfortunately, some of the most established regional development communities still suffer from severe issues that introduce setbacks to their initiatives toward establishing a sound business and political environment. Although regional economic communities in different regions serve various purposes, they have proved incapable of realizing sustainable change because of uncertain political environments and associated issues. The African continent, particularly West Africa, is still characterized by hostilities in some regions. Moreover, poverty and low living standards is still an issue that curbs most of the large settlements3. Thus, it is crucial to evaluate the potential reasons why regional integration communities do not meet their obligations and the solutions they can adopt to achieve notable change.
Discussion
Expert economists and researchers agree the regional integration communities in Africa have significantly expanded markets for trade and enhanced cooperation. However, most analysts argue that these communities are strong on paper but weak in delivering on their obligations because of conflicting interests and external influences4. Although the EAC recognizes that its members can only thrive and benefit from integration by sustaining peace, security, and stability, it does not have reliable solutions or a prosecuting body in charge of bringing perpetrators of violence to justice. For example, over the past decade, East Africa has recorded more than 2.4 million refugees and about 7.3 million displaced persons due to occasional conflicts in the region5. This situation suggests that the EAC is incapable of adequately advising, informing, and persuading its members to develop a comprehensive policy toward regional peace. Thus, they should embark on more regional security arrangements to ensure acknowledgment and timely response to conflicts in the area.
ECOWAS has initiated several reforms into its framework to strengthen its governance over its member nations. For example, the body has a community court of justice comprised of a judicial system with judges exhibiting high moral standards. Similarly, it has national units, technical commissions, and a community parliament to delegate on issues associated with policy-making and critical decision-making regarding various economic and process regulations in member states. Unfortunately, ECOWAS suffers from several issues because of factors beyond its control6. For example, illicit trading, internal security in member states, smuggling of firearms and weapons across borders, and high crime levels are highly prevalent in ECOWAS member states, which limited their peace-keeping initiatives in the region. Moreover, ECOWAS receives insufficient resources from its member states, it suffers from political interference, and it lacks appropriate military equipment to facilitate interventions against conflict7. As a result, these issues have significantly weakened their ability to deal with militia and terrorist groups like Boko Haram.
Analysis / Strategic Solutions
Regional integration in Africa has proved to maximize the benefits of technological innovations and globalization while countering their adverse effects. Unfortunately, regional integration communities fall back on their responsibilities and do not deliver on their obligations because of their unstructured governance system and notable political and economic differences between member states, making it difficult to maximize efficiency and production capacity. For example, although the EAC has taken several steps toward conflict resolution and crisis prevention, past developments suggest that it does not have enough powers or resources to obligate adherence by member states and their leaders. As a result, member states should authorize more powers to the EAC to encourage result-oriented interventions and prosecution of individuals who go against regulations. Subsequently, EAC can adopt a framework to limit the overreliance of economic benefits on specific nations to avoid setbacks in case of conflicts in those areas. Consequently, more powers and resources can help the integration to bear fruit in the long run.
On the other hand, ECOWAS has several strategies in place to ensure adherence to its community’s protocol and collective development. Unfortunately, its member countries exhibit several weaknesses since their borders are porous and allow high levels of illegal trade8. As a result, militia groups, with the help of corrupt politicians and powerful officials, can access guns and weapons of mass destruction, which allows them to rein terrorize individuals and prevent development in some areas. Therefore, it is advisable to adopt more versatile approaches to deal with these issues on the ground instead of formulating policies that are inapplicable in the real sense9. Moreover, the influence of political powers in ECOWAS decision-making does not align with its principles to provide equal opportunity and aid in the advancement of all its member states since they are pushed towards satisfying specific parties’ interests. Thus, their reform strategy should work on limiting external influences on its decision-making and assigning it more resources to deal with militia groups.
Conclusion
Regional economic communities in Africa have paved the way for trade, infrastructure, security, technological, and industry developments, thus allowing citizens in member states to thrive and enjoy higher living standards. Unfortunately, these communities are not as effective as anticipated because of various systemic failures and insufficient powers and resources to intercept national or political issues that might lead to adversities. As a result, most of them fail to meet their obligations, thus diminishing their potential benefits to members. Nonetheless, these communities have made remarkable advancements over the years, especially in minimizing conflicts within the areas and encouraging members toward political stability and positive development. However, much is yet to be done to ensure that these communities achieve their goals and foster sustainable development.
Recommendations
The EAC is an established economic integration community in East Africa. Unfortunately, it has only achieved notable milestones in advancing trade and the free movement of people within the region’s borders. Otherwise, it has significantly failed in assuring security and political stability. Therefore, the organization should be given more mandates to preside over conflict matters and deal with individuals fuelling conflict in its member nations10. Moreover, the body should have more powers to preside over leadership and fair elections since it is the main factor that results in conflicts in East Africa. With these powers, the EAC can have more control over the political temperatures of its member states.
On the other hand, ECOWAS does not meet its obligations because of deeply rooted militia groups in some of its member nations, which make it difficult to sustain development and create an encouraging business environment. Thus, the organization should be given access to more resources in military power and the capacity to intervene in conflicts. Moreover, it should be allowed to actively engage in conflict resolution in troubled states by sending in reinforcements and military personnel to professionally handle militia groups11. In addition, ECOWAS should establish more strict security protocols and border regulations to avoid the illegal smuggling of weapons and firearms across the countries. Finally, the body should establish a governance structure that limits the influence of external forces by giving all country representatives a seat at the decision-making table. These strategies will allow the community to limit setbacks and increase its effectiveness in economic integration.
Appendices
- ECOWAS – The Economic Community of West African States
- EAC – East African Community
Bibliography
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Footnotes
- 1 Darboe, Ndey Ramou. “REGIONAL SECURITY ANALYSIS: ECOWAS AND THE CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS IN THE GAMBIA.” (2020).
- 2 Ejones, Francis, Frank W. Agbola, and Amir Mahmood. “Regional integration and economic growth: New empirical evidence from the east African community.” The International Trade Journal 35, no. 4 (2021): 311-335.
- 3 Akinyemi, Opeyemi, Uchenna Efobi, Evans Osabuohien, and Philip Alege. “Regional integration and energy sustainability in Africa: exploring the challenges and prospects for ECOWAS.” African Development Review 31, no. 4 (2019): 517-528.
- 4 Amuhaya, Claire A., and Denis A. Degterev. “The East African Community: A Revived Hope for “One Destiny”.” In A Century of East African Integration, pp. 29-83. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, 2022.
- 5 Ejones, Francis, Frank W. Agbola, and Amir Mahmood. “Regional integration and economic growth: New empirical evidence from the east African community.” The International Trade Journal 35, no. 4 (2021): 311-335.
- 6 Alumona, Ikenna Mike, and Stephen Nnaemeka Azom. “Institutional capacity and regional integration: reflections on the composition and powers of the ECOWAS parliament.” In Innovation, Regional Integration, and Development in Africa, pp. 137-155. Springer, Cham, 2019.
- 7 Akinyemi, Opeyemi, Uchenna Efobi, Evans Osabuohien, and Philip Alege. “Regional integration and energy sustainability in Africa: exploring the challenges and prospects for ECOWAS.” African Development Review 31, no. 4 (2019): 517-528.
- 8 Akinyemi, Opeyemi, Uchenna Efobi, Evans Osabuohien, and Philip Alege. “Regional integration and energy sustainability in Africa: exploring the challenges and prospects for ECOWAS.” African Development Review 31, no. 4 (2019): 517-528.
- 9 Alumona, Ikenna Mike, and Stephen Nnaemeka Azom. “Institutional capacity and regional integration: reflections on the composition and powers of the ECOWAS parliament.” In Innovation, Regional Integration, and Development in Africa, pp. 137-155. Springer, Cham, 2019.
- 10 Ejones, Francis, Frank W. Agbola, and Amir Mahmood. “Regional integration and economic growth: New empirical evidence from the east African community.” The International Trade Journal 35, no. 4 (2021): 311-335.
- 11 Akinyemi, Opeyemi, Uchenna Efobi, Evans Osabuohien, and Philip Alege. “Regional integration and energy sustainability in Africa: exploring the challenges and prospects for ECOWAS.” African Development Review 31, no. 4 (2019): 517-528.