African integration

The end of the Cold War, the accelerating pace of globalization and the end of apartheid have combined to give momentum to the revival of regional and pan-African initiatives. The AU was created at the start of the new millennium, and equipped with a new Constitutive Act and institutions, giving fresh impetus to African integration and unity. this paper examines the root of the Pan-African project and the various attempts to revive the United States of Africa and push it to a practical stage. In this sense, it dives first into the origin of a continental policy of Africa integration. Then it explores the Pan-African agenda framed by the African Union since its inception. It finally assess the current level of the Pan-Africanist project in light of the ideal of African Renaissance.

The ghost of Berlin Conference (1884-1885) that partitioned Africa into specific spheres of influence has continued to haunt Africa many years after colonialism, reinforcing the fragmentation of African economies. The shadow of the Conference is still with us such that after over a century of pan-Africanism and five decades of regional integration in Africa, African economies remain decimated. This explains the reason why the announcement of the proposed Tripartite Free Trade Area (T-FTA) of the EAC-SADC-COMESA in eastern and southern Africa was received with both optimism and pessimism. The optimism concerning the prospects of the proposed T-FTA, though often exaggerated, is not totally unfounded as it could help African Economic Community (AEC) strengthen intra-RECs, and inter-RECs integration by reducing the incidence of multiple memberships and proliferation of regional economic groups and subgroups, among other things. With the use of qualitative method and some indices from the secondary sources, and by propounding a new theory of post-neo-functionalism, a combination or a synthesis of neo-nationalism and post-nationalism, this paper concludes that the proposed Tripartite Free Trade Area (T-FTA) would be confronted with some challenges capable of overcoming, impeding or confounding these prospects. The paper seeks to deconstruct and problematize neo-functionalism in African integration as well as rejects neo-functionalist, one-size-fits-all, state-centric or inter-governmental approach to integration in Africa, and rather recommends bottom-top, humanistic, people-centric or private-sector-driven approach to integration, or people-to-people integration. The study is essentially prognostic.

The paper examines the growth and development of political stability as supported by the African union in Africa, it analyzes some of the areas in which the AU has contributed in bringing stability within the African region. Using the descriptive-historical research, findings show that, the African union has contributed immensely in peacekeeping operation in Africa, but has failed to implement some major decisions made. The paper recommends that, Africa and Africa leaders should eradicate corruption and those who take joy in it should be severely punished under the laws. This will serve as deterrent to others. This is because corruption is the major cause of conflicts on African soil. The looting of government funds that should be used for development in Africa is creating untold hardship on the masses and what we see today as conflict violent in Africa is a reaction to the poor leadership and the mismanagement of natural resources deposits in Africa.

The Brexit is unprecedented in the history of European Union (EU) and unparalleled in the annals of European integration. The seemingly unexpected outcome of the Brexit referendum has instant, far-reaching and remote consequences for Britain, EU, European integration, and neo-functionalism. The implications for African countries, African Union (AU), and African integration cannot be over-emphasised. The main objective of this paper is to examine the implications of the June 23, 2016 Brexit Referendum for African integration. The paper therefore concluded that the June 23, 2016 Brexit Referendum has enormous implications for African integration. The domino effect of Brexit may not trigger exit referendum among AU member states, but it has triggered agitations for referendum on self-determination and restructuring among ethnic nationalities in member states particularly Nigeria. This intensifies centrifugal forces of sub-nationalism and disintegrative nationalism among the AU member countries. The paper suggested post-neo-functionalism as the only way out.

The interpretation or ruling on international immunity cases are often surrounded by controversies, sometimes leading to inconsistencies. The British municipal court rulings on international immunity cases are not exception, and in fact are embodiments of inconsistencies. The judgements have been consistently inconsistent. The rulings are not just characterized by controversies; they swim in controversies. Perhaps, these inconsistencies have not been more visible than in cases involving granting of sovereign immunity to political subdivisions or federating units. This was the case in the municipal court decision to deny a serving Governor of a state in Nigeria immunity from jurisdiction. The contention of this paper is that these inconsistencies are, primarily or fundamentally, due to susceptibility of British municipal courts to British national interest, and thus, not primarily due to controversial nature of international law. The paper therefore interrogates the interface between international politics and international law. We are now living in a world where the judgements of courts are not purely based on rule of law but on dictates of politics. The relevance of this paper is demonstrated by its focus on the impact of politics on international law of immunity. The paper critically examines the legality, consistency and enforceability of international law using some case illustrations concerning the British court rulings on international immunity. It discusses the origin, development, classification and meaning of international law of immunity. The paper further identifies and explains various types of international immunity. Also, the paper differentiates between domestic immunity and international immunity. Finally, the paper acknowledges controversial nature of international law on immunity; demonstrates the inconsistency of the British municipal court rulings on international immunity; and as well, recognizes the impact of national interest to the rulings of British municipal courts on immunity cases.

This article argues that the general neglect of civil society in the majority of the literature on regionalism is above all a theoretical and methodological failure. It argues that a critical perspective on regionalism in the form of the new regionalism approach (NRA) provides a useful point of departure for better understanding civil society on at the regional level. To this approach should be added general insights from literature on civil society and the post-colonial state in Africa. The analysis shows that Southern African civil societies in Southern Africa are is not powerless, is not simply ‘national’, nor is it necessarily subject to state policies or states-led regional organisations. Rather, civil society in Southern Africa is extending its field of competence and is increasingly engaged in various forms of regionalisation activities, particularly in fields such as social economic justice and debt, trade, health, democracy and human rights, the environment, and research. But regional civil society is by no means harmonious. It encompasses several paradoxes and internal conflicts within itself, and comprises complex relations with states and donors.

Торопчин Г.В. Проблемы и особенности развития международных интеграционных процессов и функционирования международных организаций (интеграционного типа) в Африке и арабо-исламском мире в начале XXI в. (на 2010 г.) Общая характеристика интеграционных процессов в Африке и арабоисламском мире Практически каждый регион современного глобализирующегося мира оказывается так или иначе затронутым интеграционными процессами. Государства даже столь проблемного региона, как Африка, не остаются в стороне от этой тенденции. Основы для интеграции гораздо более прочные в арабо-исламском мире: ориентация на экспорт высококачественного топливного сырья, культурные традиции, общая религия и язык -всё это объединяет государства Северной Африки, Ближнего Востока и некоторых других регионов и субрегионов мира. Для выделения современных трендов развития интеграционных процессов в этих частях мира необходимо в первую очередь проследить историю становления международных организаций интеграционного типа в данных регионах, описать развитие и функционирование объединений в исторической ретроспективе, выделить взаимосвязи между отдельными организациями. Характерной чертой интеграционных процессов в Африке является высокая степень их институализации. В настоящее время на континенте около 200 экономических объединений различного уровня, масштабов и направленности. Но с точки зрения исследования проблемы становления субрегиональной идентичности и её соотношения с идентичностью национальной и этнической интерес представляют функционирование таких крупных организаций как Западноафриканское экономическое сообщество (ЭКОВАС), Сообщество развития Южной Африки (САДК), Экономическое сообщество Центральноафриканских государств (ЭККАС) и т. п. Крайне 2 низкая результативность их деятельности в предыдущие десятилетия и наступление эпохи глобализации потребовало резкого ускорения интеграционных процессов на качественно ином уровне. Экономическая кооперация развивается в новых -по сравнению с 1970-ми гг. -условиях противоречивого взаимодействия глобализации мировой экономики и усиливающейся маргинализации позиций африканских государств её рамках и, естественно, в другой системе координат. Интеграция уже не рассматривается как инструмент и основа для формирования самодостаточной и саморазвивающейся экономики при опоре на собственные силы и в противовес империалистическому Западу. Подход иной, который, как уже упоминалось выше, представляет интеграцию в качестве пути и способа включения африканских стран в глобализирующееся мировое хозяйство, а также как импульс и показатель экономического роста и развития в целом.

The untenable inequalities and suffering experienced by Africans blatantly exposes that a lot more than simple developmental ‘lag’, lack of economic ‘growth’, ‘governance’, or a shaky ‘investment climate’ inhibits Africa’s legitimately progressive human development. This dissertation calls for and probes a serious reflection on the roots of the concepts broadly understood as ‘African Integration’ and ‘African Renaissance’ in light of how the space we call 'Africa' has been constructed across centuries, serving very particular interests to effect modernity’s meta-narrative into reality, subsequently positioning Africa at the periphery of the periphery of its hierarchical ordering. Narratives, defined as a distinct form of discourse as retrospective meaning-making are effective stories manifesting the conscious experience of every ‘thing’ in the universe. How Africa’s ‘story’ has been constructed, and how its actual story diverges from the convergence theories of the colonial-imperial-globalisation project are this dissertation’s major focus. It deeply mines what Foucault exposed as global technologies-of-power, to elucidate the negative impacts of northern-centric discourses on Africa’s ‘self’, from individuated to collective aspects of that ‘self’. This dissertation draws attention to how Africa’s eco-social justice practices vindicate particular scientific, cultural, and social emancipatory discourses, and democratic theories emphatic that the monumental task of de-colonising Africa’s minds from meta-narrative constructions should prioritise, and inform developmental continental policy design.