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CLA SOUTH-SOUTH #1 COLLABORATIVE PROGRAMME OCCASIONAL PAPER SERIES Globalisation and the New Pan East Africanism: Exploring Borderland Research and Theoretical Issues in the Study of Regional Integration Peter Wafula WEKESA CODESRIA CLACSO Consejo Latinoamericano de Ciencias Sociales - Conselho Latino-americano de Ciências Sociais Av. Callao 875 | piso 5º “J” [recepción] | C1023AAB | Buenos Aires | Argentina Tel [54 11] 4811 6588 | Fax [54 11] 4812 8459 e-mail <[email protected]> | web <www.clacso.org> CLA Globalisation and the #1 New Pan East Africanism: Exploring Borderland Research and Theoretical Issues in the Study of Regional Integration Peter Wafula WEKESA This paper was originally presented to the Summer Institute on “International Hegemony and the South: A Tricontinental Perspective”, Havana, Cuba, 2005. The event was organized by “The Africa, Asia and Latin America Scholarly Collaborative Program”, supported by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency. The opinions expressed in this document, which has not been submitted to editorial revision, are the exclusive responsibility of the author and they do not necessarily agree with the position of CLACSO/CODESRIA/APISA. Copyright 2008 The Africa-Asia-Latin America Scholarly Collaborative Program. International hegemony and the south ISBN: 978-987-1183-88-3 Patrocinado por Agencia Sueca de Desarrollo Internacional OCCASIONAL PAPER SERIES 5 Abstract Intellectual discourses on regional integration in Africa have continued to gener- ate diverse and often contradictory debates and responses. A common con- vergence in these debates, as they have increasingly come to be associated with the current process of globalisation, is that regional integration is not only desirable but also necessary. The latter consensus seems to be justified on the premise that individual states cannot readily achieve their social, economic and political goals in isolation from their neighbours. Thus, the desirability of promoting regional integration continue to be widely acknowledged by multilat- eral agencies, Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs), national governments and academics on the continent. The concept of Pan-East Africanism, seen as the new initiative to integrate the East African states of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania is contextualized within the emerging global realities and trends. This paper sets out to review the state of regional integration efforts in East Africa. Viewed within the context of Pan-East Africanism, the paper explores some of the theoretical and methodological backgrounds informing current research on regional integration. Away from the often-accepted state-centric and mainly economistic theoretical formulations, the paper offers some critical reflections on regional integration based on the new emerging borderland perspectives. It specifically argues that people centred top-up theoretical perspectives offer a more informed and practical approach to regional integration in East Africa. Globalisation and Regional Integration in Africa: An Introduction There is perhaps no term that has received much scholarly attention in the contemporary discourse than globalisation. Indeed, as a world phenomenon, globalisation has generated numerous definitional variants to warrant any spe- cific benchmarks. More generally however, globalisation as a world process has been defined as involving a steady decline in the importance of national boundaries and geographical distance as constraints on the mobility of people, goods and services. The process of globalisation is thus said to correspond to an unprecedented contraction of space and elimination of great distances and time through the development of new means of communication and information technologies across the planet (Zeleza, 2003). Key concepts within the foregoing definition are important to our under- standing of the link between globalisation and regional integration. These include the contraction of spaces and decline in the importance of boundaries. Both processes of globalisation and regional integration are concerned with spaces of interaction either at global or regional levels. The scope of such interactions aims at providing mutual relevance to specific entities upon which frequency of contacts, transactions, common aims or attributes, economic complementarity SOUTH-SOUTH COLLABORATIVE PROGRAMME etc. are enhanced among various units. Like globalisation therefore, regional integration is concerned not only about space generally but also, and more specifically, with the boundaries of specific states in a particular region. Ac- cording to Adetula (2004: 2), regional integration may be taken as a dialectical unity of social, economic and political processes. Simply put, it represents a situation in which states become interdependent in whatever aspects of their relations as they aspire. Its constitutionality should, according to Ochwada (2004: 54), be worked out in terms of a reasonable theory of integration that provides for a shared space to pursue socio-political and economic activities across national borders, a space that transcends the concerns and interests of top political leaders. Globalisation and regional integration are concepts whose linkage deserves some historical hindsight. Especially within the African context, such a histori- cal consideration must reveal the nature and emergence of these concepts in relation to the social, economic and political realities on the continent and the latter’s incorporation into the metropolitan dominated world capitalist system. Globalisation and efforts towards regional integration are not new since com- munities, nations and indeed continents have historically been in touch with each other. However it should neither be argued that the present globalisation and trends towards regional integration have no marked differences with those in the past, nor are they packaged with numerous contradictions. It is instructive, for instance, to observe that in regard to boundaries and borderland communities, globalisation and regionalism seem to be opening up new avenues for unequal interaction between the various states and peoples. Current trends towards regionalism, although benefiting from contemporary global trends, do not only minimally pay attention to historical dynamics in the region but also present numerous theoretical contradictions and challenges. African Regional Integration: Pre-colonial and Colonial Debates Most African regional integration analyses have erroneously commenced their efforts with postcolonial developments and initiatives. Yet, it is historically evi- dent that various forms of social, economic and political integration initiatives predate colonialism and the nation state in Africa. Throughout Africa, people interacted with one another and with the outside world long before the onset of colonialism. In these interactions, various forms of social, economic and politi- cal exchanges allowed for the free movement of people, goods and services. Ochwada (2004) has elaborately pointed out how such pre-colonial networks of relations need to form the basis of understanding regional integration efforts within the East African context. The author particularly argues that, despite the existence of diverse political organisations, people moved freely without the inhibitions and restrictions of artificial boundaries that were to characterize later these regions, following the onset of colonialism. With the expansive trading networks in the sub-region, the area had become regionally integrated through commerce and through other social and political networks that enhanced good neighbourliness. Like in East Africa, this trend has been observed throughout Africa (Zeleza, 1993). African pre-colonial integration mechanisms, though less documented, provide an important basis for understanding current initiatives, their progress and challenges. Any meaningful historical trajectory on regionalism in Africa, starting with the pre-colonial period must of necessity also consider colonial developments. With the onset of colonialism various social, economic and po- litical forms of transformation of African lives were initiated which, in turn, had a profound impact on the nature of interaction between the various peoples on the continent. Perhaps the most important colonial impact in this case was the creation of colonial boundaries. These boundaries were drawn, in most cases, OCCASIONAL PAPER SERIES 7 across well established lines of interaction between different African communi- ties. As Asiwaju (1992) has argued, the boundaries disrupted forms of inter-social relations, including, in every case, a dominant or active sense of community based on traditions concerning common ancestry, usually very strong kinship ties, shared socio-political institutions and economic resources, common cus- toms and practices and sometimes acceptance of a common political control. The foregoing historical issues form the basis upon which any understanding of regional integration initiatives in Africa ought to be located. Indeed, most of the colonial efforts towards regionalism in Africa were based on these historical reali- ties despite their objectives being geared towards serving colonial interests. Specifically within the colonial period, the persistence of the pre-colonial informal integration networks was visible in spite of the colonial policy of divide and rule that worked against any tendency towards regional integration. The various colonial administrators viewed