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Regional Integration and Cooperation in West Africa

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Regional Integration and Cooperation in West Africa IN flflST A Multidimensional Perspective 0 IDRC edited by Real Lavergne * CONTENTS Preface vii Acknowledgements xi Chapter 1 — Introduction: Reflexions on an Agenda for Regional Integration and Cooperation in West Africa. Real Lavergne 1 PART I — STRATEGIC VISIONS AND PROSPECTS Chapter 2 — ECOWAS and the Future of Regional Integration in West Africa. Abass Bundu 29 Chapter 3 Theoretical and Strategic Approaches. Naceur Bourenane 49 Chapter 4 — Cultural Dimensions of Economic and Political Integration in Africa. Stanislas Adotevi 65 Chapter 5 — Institutional Crisis and the Search for New Models. Daniel C. Bach 77 Chapter 6 — Donor Perspectives. Real Lavergne and C. Koffie Daddieh 103 Chapter 7 — Building Partnerships for Innovation: A New Role for South—South Cooperation. Lynn K. Mytelka 103 PART II — ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES Chapter 8 National Policies as Impediments to Regional Economic Integration. Ousmane Badiane 151 Chapter 9 Informal Integration or Economic Subversion? Parallel Trade in West Africa. Kate Meagher 165 V Chapter 10 — A Regional Strategy for Trade and Growth in West Africa. J. Dirck Stryker, Jeffrey C. Metzel and Lynne Salinger 189 Chapter 11 — Lessons from UMOA. Rohinton Medhora 215 Chapter 12 — Monetary Integration in Light of the European Debate. David Cobham and Peter Robson 239 PART III — POLITICAL DIMENSIONS — Chapter 13 Human Rights and Integration. E.K. Quashigah . 259 Chapter 14 — The Regional Dimension of Environmental Management. Guy Debailleul, Eric Grenon and Muimana-Muende Kalala, and André Vuillet 279 Chapter 15 — Institutional Similarities and Differences: ECOWAS, CEEAC and PTA. Luabu Lumu Niumba 303 Chapter 16 — Constitutionalism and Economic Integration. Omoniyi Adewoye 321 List of acronyms 333 About the Authors 339 Index 343 vi PR EFACE Most West African countries are very small, not only in population, but also in terms of economic output. Only three countries (Nigeria, Ghana, and Côte d'Ivoire) have populations over 10 million; the others have national products equal to that of small cities or medium-sized towns in industrial countries. Nigeria stands out among the rest, with a popula- tion of over 100 million, but low income levels make even Nigeria a fairly small country in economic terms. Development requires the organization of social and economic activ- ity on a much larger scale than this. Increased scale brings with it oppor- tunities for a wide range of benefits associated with lower unit costs of production, increased specialization and competition, access to a wider range of technology, and greater sharing of ideas and experience in all areas of endeavour. Country size is not the sole consideration, however. A large country that is weakly integrated internally due to poor infrastruc- ture, ethnic rivalries, or sociopolitical factors may provide fewer oppor- tunities for development than a smaller country that is well integrated. Size may be a secondary consideration for countries able to maintain close links to other countries at the regional or international level. West African countries today are weakly integrated nationally, regionally, and internationally. Ethnic and sociopolitical divisions are particularly significant in certain countries, like Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria, and all countries in the region suffer from weak transport and communications infrastructure and other impediments to socio- economic integration at the national level. Regionally, West African countries are divided by a wide range of institutional, legal, and infra- structural barriers. At the international level, Africa is increasingly mar- ginalized from world markets, from technology and communications networks, and from the world community in general. Efforts are required on all these fronts. The sense of disconnectedness in Africa is strong, and Africans are searching for new forms of commu- nity able to overcome some of the development challenges of today's fast- changing world. Disillusionment with the nation-state as an agent of development at the national level in African countries, combined with Africans' fear of being absorbed into a world outside its control, lead to regional integration and cooperation as an important focus of attention in this search for community. vii Prospects for integration into world markets under better conditions seem limited in many respects due to the weakness of world markets for traditional West African exports and the underdeveloped industrial base of these countries. Regional integration and cooperation afford an inter- mediate solution. Although regional integration is sometimes advocated, even today, as a substitute for links with the rest of the world, increased openness to world markets and regional integration are increasingly being seen as complementary aspects of a multipronged development strategy of reduced isolation. The first half of the 1990s witnessed a remarkable growth of inter- est in regional integration and cooperation everywhere in Africa. There have been numerous conferences and seminars on the topic, and substan- tial efforts have been made on several fronts. The adoption of a revised treaty for the Economic Community of West African States in 1993 and the creation of the Union économique et monétaire ouest-africaine in 1994 were major events in West Africa. Other favourable changes have included substantial progress in the reduction of trade barriers through generalized trade policy reform, currency devaluation, including that of the CFA franc and the increased commitment of donors to promoting regional cooperation and integration. This volume is a contribution of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) toward sustaining the momentum. It represents the last installment of a program of activities launched in 1991. The aim was to mobilize scholars from a wide range of disciplines to share their reflections on issues of regional integration and cooperation in West Africa, by critically reviewing the experience of the past and exploring alternatives for the future. The program began with a series of national seminars held in Abidjan, Accra, Dakar, Lagos, and Ouagadougou and was followed by the organization of the International Conference on Regional Integration in West Africa, in Dakar in January 1993. Pro- ceedings from that conference were published separately, while work pro- ceeded on the papers represented in this volume. Regional integration is not just an economic issue; the approach adopted in this volume is a multidimensional one in which integration is seen as a process of community-building or social construction, not limited to the expansion of regional trade. Also noteworthy is the rela- tively broad approach taken by most of the authors in treating various aspects of the problem. Their papers are not lacking in disciplinary focus, viii because the authors focus on topics of interest from their particular perspective, but each has viewed the problem on its own merits, in uncloistered fashion. The authors have attempted to bridge disciplinary divides by making each paper as accessible as possible to decision-makers and professionals from other disciplines. The overall perspective on regional integration which results is a relatively holistic one, accessible to a wide audience. ix ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Producing this volume was a collective endeavour involving numerous institutions and individuals. I thank each one of them for their contri- bution. Special mention must be made of IDRC's regional director of the time, Pierre Sane, and Professor Boubacar Barry, of Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar, who launched the initiative. The key collaborating institutions included those who hosted the national seminars and others who contributed financially or materially to the organization of the inter- national conference. The national seminars were hosted by the Centre Ivoirien de Recherches Economiques et Sociales, the University of Ghana, IDRC's regional office in Dakar, the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, and the Centre d'Etudes, de Documentation, de Recherches Econo- miques et Sociales in Ouagadougou. Contributing institutions for the International Conference included the Canadian International Develop- ment Agency, the Ford Foundation, the Regional Integration Promotion Unit for West and Central Africa (CINERGIE), the Council for the Development of Social and Economic Research in Africa (CODESRIA), and the Banque centrale des Etats de l'Afrique de l'Ouest. Other institutions collaborated through their participation in the Scientific Committee. These included the Association of African Women for Research on Development, the African Centre for Monetary Studies, CODESRIA, the African Institute for Economic Development and Plan- ning, the African Regional Centre of Technology, the Institut sénegalais de recherches agricoles, and Cheikh Anta Diop University. Collaborators in the production of this volume included Ousmane Badiane, Jean Coussy, Amady Dieng, and Jeggan Senghor, who provided advice and comments on the papers to be included in the volume; Robert Showman and Emmanuel Mensah, who contributed to the translation into English of the papers by Adotevi, Bach, Bourenane, and Debailleul et al.; Momar-Coumba Diop, Catherine Daffé, Magatte Guèye, Penda Guèye, and Amy Barboza, who assisted in the editing, indexing and lay- out; Sandra Garland, who did the copy editing; and Esther Beaudry, Bill Carman, and Michèle Wilson, who helped to marshal the necessary resources. Heartfelt thanks are due to all, including
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