Abstract
Region-building and regional integration are not new phenomena. They are characteristic, in varying forms, of the international system of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. They are processes in which states enter into an agreement in order to enhance regional cooperation through institutions and rules. The objectives of the agreement range from economic to political to environmental, although regional integration has typically taken the form of a political economy initiative, wherein commercial interests have been the focus for achieving broader sociopolitical and security objectives, as defined by national governments. Many issues in international economic relations, such as the use of shared water resources, are currently subordinated to the quest for regional economic associations among more or less geographically contiguous areas.
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Notes
Adebayo Adedeji, “Comparative Strategies of Economic Decolonisation in Africa,” in Ali A. Mazrui (ed.), General History of Africa VIII: Africa Since 1935 (London: Heinemann, 1993), p. 408.
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© 2016 Samuel K. B. Asante
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Asante, S.K.B. (2016). The Political Economy of Africa’s Region-Building and Regional Integration. In: Levine, D.H., Nagar, D. (eds) Region-Building in Africa. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137586117_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137586117_8
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