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Integrative and cooperative regionalism: the economic community of West African states

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 May 2009

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The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the most recent effort at regional integration in the Third World, is the first potential success for such endeavors among less developed countries (LDCs). Deficient in some of the neofunctional variables of regional integration, ECOWAS differs from similar LDC groupings. Its formation was the result of high-level political support. The terms and provisions of its treaty create a harmonious political environment for cooperation, and the community has so far been free of the conflicts that destroyed several similar LDC ventures. A quasi-supranational secretariat serves as a vanguard of integration by insulating technical issues from the politics of national interest. Nigeria, the major subregional actor, endeavors to make side payments (despite its economic difficulties), and a more conducive international environment has accompanied the changed attitude of France, the principal extraregional actor, from opposition to support. Despite some contrary forces, ECOWAS may become the Third World's first success in integration.

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Copyright © The IO Foundation 1985

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References

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74. Full text of the protocol is published in Official Journal of ECOWAS, English ed., 1 (June 1979), pp. 35.Google Scholar

75. ECOWAS Document ECW/HSG/II.7 Rev. I. The first phase, the right to move freely, is now in force and is expected to last five years (i.e. until 1984). If the opposition against free movement in several states continues at its present rate, it is very doubtful whether the next two phases–resident and establishment–will be inaugurated soon.

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90. “Protocol Relating to Mutual Assistance on Defence,” art. 17.

91. Ibid., art. 19.

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97. Ibid., pp. 2847–49.

98. “French Policy to Africa,” West Africa, 21 August 1981, p. 1920.Google Scholar

99. A new era in Franco-Nigerian relations has actually been demonstrated, many observers feel, by France's warmness toward the Nigeria-led OAU peacekeeping force in the Republic of Chad.

100. In addition, ECOWAS as the largest integration grouping in the world can be too unwieldy, particularly because of the decision-making process. There is also a language problem. The authority has established a Bilingual Institute of Management and Public Administration, but training in management functions and public administration for the community's personnel does not remove the language barrier at the grass roots. See ECOWAS, Development of the Community, 1977–1981, pp. 1719 and 38.Google Scholar

101. An ECOWAS telecommunications project was scheduled for completion in 1985 and was estimated to cost $35 million. ECOWAS embarked on a search for funds to help finance it. By the end of a donor's conference in Freetown, Sierra Leone, in May 1981 and Executive Secretary Diaby-Quattara's completion of talks with several international banks in Brussels and the European Commission in October 1981, about $69 million (almost double the estimate) had been committed, and tenders were issued for the project in January 1982. See West Africa, 1 June 1981, p. 1207Google Scholar, and 2 November 1981, p. 2595; and African Business no. 41 (January 1982), p. 75.Google Scholar

102. Significantly, the West African Chambers of Commerce, Industry, and Agriculture has been accorded observer status in ECOWAS. West Africa, 24 05 1982, pp. 1369 and 1371.Google Scholar

103. Ibid., p. 1377. See also West Africa, 7 June 1982, p. 1494.Google Scholar

104. “ECOWAS Poised to Advance,” West Africa, 1 June 1982, p. 1492.Google Scholar

105. National Concord, 4 June 1984.