Abstract
The crisis of development plaguing African countries has resulted in increasing levels of socio-economic inequality, rising poverty, and unemployment, collapse of social welfare and deepening level of indebtedness, among others. This chapter interrogates the potentials of the African Union (AU) in resolving this crisis, nay engendering development across the continent within the framework of regional cooperation for development. Informed by the dependency theoretical position on regional cooperation for development which sees it as a mechanism to stimulate and consolidate autocentric development, the chapter examines the institutions and policies of the AU as a basis of determining the organization’s capability to provide an alternative developmental direction for African countries. Furthermore, the concern with the infrastructural and institutional capacity of African States to maximally exploit the several and collective benefits derivable from regional cooperation is interrogated. The concluding premise of the chapter is that there is an urgent need to “rejig” the architecture of the AU to effectively reposition it as a mechanism to deliver on its mandate of engendering development for Africa.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Aderemi, A. (2002). Towards an interpretation of Africa’s development process: NEPAD and the new global orthodoxy. A paper presented at the International Conference on the challenges of NEPAD organized by AfricAvenir Foundation for Development, International Cooperation and Peace, Yaoundé, Cameroon.
African Union. (2013). Report on alternative sources of funding the African Union, by the high-level panel with H. E., Mr. Olusegun Obasanjo, former President of Nigeria, as the Chairperson, Presented at the twenty-first ordinary session of the Assembly of the Union.
African Union. (2018). Indication of legal instruments to be signed at the 10th extraordinary session of the assembly on the launch of the AfCFTA. Retrieved from https://au.int/sites/default/files/pressreleases/34033-pr-indication20of20signing20authority20-20updated20final20final20docx.pdf
African Union Commission & New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. (2014). I. Addis Ababa.
Agugua, A. O. (2018). Theories of social change and development in Africa. In S. O. Oloruntoba & T. Falola (Eds.), The Palgrave handbook of African politics, governance and development (pp. 103–122). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Agupusi, P. (2016). The African Union and development in Africa. Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs Research Paper No. 2016-30. Retrieved from http://ssrn.com/abstract=2767503
Ake, C. (1981). A political economy of Africa. New York: Longman.
Akinbobola, A. (1999). International organizations. In R. Anifowose & F. Enemuo (Eds.), Elements of politics (pp. 343–363). Lagos: Sam Iroanusi Publications.
Amin, S. (1990). Delinking: Towards a polycentric world. London: Zed Books Ltd..
Amin, S. (2011). Maldevelopment: Anatomy of a global failure. Oxford: Pambazuka Press.
Angotti, T. (1981). The political implications of dependency theory. Latin American Perspectives, 8, 124–137.
Babarinde, O. (2007). The EU as a model for the African Union: The limits of imitation. Jean Monnet/Robert Schuman Paper Series, 7, no. 2.
Baran, P. (1957). Political economy of growth. New York: Monthly Review Press.
Bechev, D. (2011). Constructing South East Europe: The politics of Balkan regional cooperation. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Berger, M. (1994). The end of the ‘Third World’. Third World Quarterly, 15(2), 257–275.
Börzel, T. A. (2016). Theorizing regionalism: Cooperation, integration, and governance. In T. A. Börzel & T. Risse (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of comparative regionalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Börzel, T. A., & Risse, T. (2016). Introduction: Framework of the handbook and conceptual clarifications. In T. A. Börzel & T. Risse (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of comparative regionalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Constitutive Act of the African Union. (2000). Retrieved from https://au.int/sites/default/files/pages/34873-file-constitutiveact_en.pdf
Donaldson, J. (2008). Growth is good for whom, when, how? Economic growth and poverty reduction in exceptional cases. World Development, 36(11), 2127–2143.
Dos Santos, T. (1970). The structure of dependence. The American Economic Review, 60(2), 231–236, Papers and Proceedings of the Eighty-second Annual Meeting of the American Economic Association (May, 1970).
Falola, T., & Mbah, E. M. (2014). Introduction: Change and continuity in contemporary Africa. In T. Falola & E. M. Mbah (Eds.), Contemporary Africa: Challenges and opportunities. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Frank, A. G. (1970). The development of underdevelopment. In R. Rhodes (Ed.), Imperialism and underdevelopment: A reader. New York: Monthly Review Press.
Gana, A. (1985). The State in Africa: Yesterday, today, and tomorrow. International Political Science Review, 6(1), 115–132.
Gottschalk, K., & Schmidt, S. (2004). The African Union and the new partnership for Africa’s development: Strong institutions for weak states? Internationale Politik und Gesellschaft, 4, 138–158.
Ikenna, A. M. (2009). Understanding the crisis of development in Africa: Reflections on Bedford Umez’s analysis. African Journal of Political Science and International Relations, 3(9), 354–359.
Kajee, A. (2004). The African Union organs and the African Peer Review Mechanism: Implications for regional integration in the context of continental structures. In D. Hansohm, W. Breytenbach, T. Hartzenberg, & C. McCarthy (Eds.), Monitoring regional integration in Southern Africa Yearbook (Vol. 4). Windhoek: Namibian Economic Policy Research Unit (NEPRU).
Luiz, J. (2006). The New Partnership for African Development: Africa’s response to its underdevelopment. Journal of International Development, 18(2), 223.
Mbeki, T. M. (2002). Speech at the launch of the African Union. Retrieved July 9 2002 from http://www.sahistory.org.za/archive/speech-launch-african-union-9-july-2002
Mendes, A., Bertella, M., & Teixeira, R. (2014). Industrialization in sub-Saharan Africa and import substitution policy. Brazilian Journal of Political Economy, 34(1 (134)), 120–138.
NEPAD. (2013). NEPAD in brief. Retrieved from http://www.dfa.gov.za/au.nepad/nepadbrief.htm
New African Magazine. (2002, September). London.
New Partnership for Africa’s Development. (2001). Retrieved from http://www.dirco.gov.za/au.nepad/nepad.pdf
Ninalowo, A. (2007). On the crisis of underdevelopment. Lagos: Prime Publications.
OAU Charter. (1963). Addis Ababa. Retrieved from https://au.int/sites/default/files/treaties/7759-file-oau_charter_1963.pdf
Oloruntoba, S. O. (2016). Regionalism and integration in Africa: EU-ACP economic partnership agreements and Euro-Nigeria relations. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.
Olukoshi, A. (2010). The African Union and African integration: Retrospect and prospect. In G. Laporte & J. Mackie (Eds.), Building the African Union: An assessment of past progress and future prospects for the African Union’s institutional architecture. ECDPM: Maastricht.
Onimode, B. (1982). Imperialism and under-development in Nigeria: The dialectics of mass poverty. London: Zed Books Ltd..
Onimode, B. (1988). A political economy of the African crisis. London: Zed Books Ltd..
Onunaiju, C. (2017, March 1). Challenge before the African Union Commission. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://guardian.ng/opinion/challenge-before-the-african-union-commission/amp/
Paterson, M. (2012). The African Union at ten: Problems, progress and prospects. International Colloquium Report, Berlin.
Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa. (2017a). Interconnecting, integrating and transforming a continent. Retrieved from https://www.afdb.org/fileadmin/uploads/afdb/Documents/Project-and-Operations/PIDA%20note%20English%20for%20web%200208.pdf
Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa. (2017b). Transforming Africa through Modern infrastructure. Retrieved from https://www.afdb.org/fileadmin/uploads/afdb/Documents/Generic-Documents/PIDA%20brief%20closing%20gap.pdf
Sen, A. (2000). Development as freedom. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Sesay, A. (2008). The African Union: Forward march or about face-turn? Claude Ake Memorial Papers, no. 3. Uppsala: Department of Peace and Conflict Research & Nordic Africa Institute.
So, A. Y. (1986). The economic success of Hong Kong: Insights from a world-system perspective. Sociological Perspectives, 29(2), 241–258.
So, A. Y. (2010). The dependency and world-systems perspectives on development. In C. Crothers (Ed.), Historical developments and theoretical approaches in Sociology (Vol. II). Paris: EOLSS Publishers.
Steinberg, N. (2001). Background paper on the Africa Union. World Federalist Movement.
Tavares, R. (2010). Regional security: The capacity of international organizations. Abingdon: Routledge.
Taylor, I. (2005). NEPAD: Towards Africa’s development or another false start. Colorado: Lynne Rienner Publishers.
The Herald (Harare). NEPAD a Project for Former Colonisers, Racists, 18th June 2002.
UNDP. (2016). Human development report. New York: UNDP.
Vanheukelom, J. (2016). The political economy of regional integration in Africa: The African Union report. Maastricht: ECDPM.
Wallerstein, I. (1974). The modern world system: Capitalist agriculture and the origins of the European world-economy in the sixteenth century. New York: New York Academic Press.
Wu, Y. (2004). Rethinking the Taiwanese developmental state. The China Quarterly, 177, 91–114.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Ishola, E.B. (2020). Regional Cooperation for Development: The African Union Experience. In: Oloruntoba, S.O. (eds) Pan Africanism, Regional Integration and Development in Africa. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34296-8_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34296-8_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-34295-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-34296-8
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)