Challenges of regional integration in Africa : policy and administrative implications

Abstract

Regional integration, which encompasses efforts by a group of countries to promote their political, economic, social and cultural integration and development, has been pursued in Africa since the early 1960s. However, there is near unanimous agreement that regionalization has failed in Africa to produce effective frameworks within which poverty and underdevelopment can be mitigated. While the resolution of a number of issues, such as, political instability and weak infrastructures is imperative, and holds prerequisite for the development of Africa, the focus of the paper is on institutional and administrative mechanisms that serve as the critical conduit through which the aforementioned issues must be addressed. The paper argues that effective implementation of regional programmes requires an institutional apparatus that is capable of dealing with the complexity of policy-making and implementation processes between a variety of state and societal actors at all levels of governance – supranational as well as national levels, which characterize regional integration.