Bulletin n. 1/2017 | ||
June 2017 | ||
Dossan Gilles Landry |
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The Evolution of the West African Regional Integration Process | ||
in Federalist Debate (The) , Year XXIX, Number 3, November 2016 , 2016 | ||
In 1975, fifteen countries1 of West Africa agreed to build stronger bonds between their nations through the establishment of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). In the Treaty giving a legal status to this Organization, the Heads of State and Government affirmed that “the ultimate objective of their efforts [is an] accelerated and sustained economic development of their states and the creation of a homogeneous society, leading to the unity of the countries of West Africa, by the elimination of all types of obstacles to the free movement of goods, capital and persons”2. Two main conclusions may derive from this statement: the regional integration process in West Africa is determined by economic development objectives, these objectives attained through free movement, one of the key elements that describe a Common Market. In 1975, it was clear that the framework of the West African regional integration would mainly be built on economic foundations. More than four decades later, there is no doubt that the ECOWAS has evolved to adapt the regional integration process to the challenges of a changing world. Built on the basis of economic objectives, the regional organization has progressively mutated and has changed its mandate to embrace the role that it is called to play towards the broader integration of the African Continent. This is illustrated by the revision of its treaty in 1993 and the way ECOWAS progressively included political aspects in his original economic mandate. | ||