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Regional integration in Africa

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  • Hartzenberg, Trudi

Abstract

This paper examines the history of regional integration in Africa, what has motivated it, the different initiatives that African governments have pursued, the nature of the integration process, and the current challenges. Regional integration is seen as a rational response to the difficulties faced by a continent with many small national markets and landlocked countries. As a result, African governments have concluded a very large number of regional integration arrangements, several of which have significant membership overlap. While characterized by ambitious targets, they have a dismally poor implementation record. Part of the problem may lie in the paradigm of linear market integration, marked by stepwise integration of goods, labour and capital markets, and eventually monetary and fiscal integration. This tends to focus on border measures such as the import tariff. However, supply-side constraints may be more important. A deeper integration agenda that includes services, investment, competition policy and other behind-the-border issues can address the national-level supply-side constraints far more effectively than an agenda which focuses almost exclusively on border measures.

Suggested Citation

  • Hartzenberg, Trudi, 2011. "Regional integration in Africa," WTO Staff Working Papers ERSD-2011-14, World Trade Organization (WTO), Economic Research and Statistics Division.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:wtowps:ersd201114
    DOI: 10.30875/fad9df15-en
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Hossein Jalilian & Michael Tribe & John Weiss (ed.), 2000. "Industrial Development and Policy in Africa," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 1812.
    2. World Bank, "undated". "Africa's Pulse, September 2011 : An Analysis of Issues Shaping Africa's Economic Future," World Bank Publications - Reports 20241, The World Bank Group.
    3. World Economic Forum & World Bank & African Development Bank, 2011. "The Africa Competitiveness Report 2011," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 2319, December.
    4. World Bank, "undated". "Africa's Pulse, April 2011 : An Analysis of Issues Shaping Africa's Economic Future," World Bank Publications - Reports 20242, The World Bank Group.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. EPHREM HABTEMICHAEL REDDA & Paul-Francious Muzindusti, 2017. "Does SADC constitute an optimum currency area? Evidence from generalised purchasing power parity," Proceedings of Economics and Finance Conferences 4807771, International Institute of Social and Economic Sciences.
    2. Hannah Muzee & Andrew Osehi Enaifoghe, 2019. "Towards an Inclusive Model of African Regional Integration: How Effective has the Linear Model been so Far?," Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, AMH International, vol. 11(1), pages 55-65.
    3. Ockert Pretorius & Ernst Drewes & Mariske van Aswegen & Gerard Malan, 2021. "A Policy Approach towards Achieving Regional Economic Resilience in Developing Countries: Evidence from the SADC," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-21, March.
    4. Scholvin, Sören, 2017. "Secondary Powers vis-à-vis South Africa: Hard Balancing, Soft Balancing, Rejection of Followership, and Disregard of Leadership," GIGA Working Papers 306, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.
    5. McKay, Andy & Ogunkola, Olawale & Semboja, Haji Hatibu, 2023. "Rethinking regional integration in Africa for inclusive and sustainable development: introduction to the special issue," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 117632, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. Opeyemi Akinyemi & Uchenna Efobi & Evans Osabuohien & Philip Alege, 2019. "Regional Integration and Energy Sustainability in Africa: Exploring the Challenges and Prospects for ECOWAS," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 31(4), pages 517-528, December.
    7. Mkuna, Eliaza, 2014. "East Africa Community (Eac) Non Tariff Barriers And Their Effects On Tanzanian Small And Medium Agro Enterprises Cross Border Trade," Research Theses 265576, Collaborative Masters Program in Agricultural and Applied Economics.
    8. Lere Amusan & Oluwole Olutola, 2016. "Addressing Climate Change in Southern Africa: Any Role for South Africa in the Post-Paris Agreement?," India Quarterly: A Journal of International Affairs, , vol. 72(4), pages 395-409, December.
    9. Jaime DE MELO & Yvonne TSIKATA, 2014. "Regional integration in Africa: Challenges and prospects," Working Papers P93, FERDI.
    10. Andrés Rodríguez-Pose & Callum Wilkie, 2018. "Strategies of gain and strategies of waste: What determines the success of development intervention?," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 1826, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Jul 2018.
    11. James Adu Peprah & Noah Boakye Akosah & Marshall Wellington Blay, 2016. "Prospects for Freight and Logistics Companies in Operationalization of the ECOWAS Protocol on Free Movement of Goods and Persons," International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, Human Resource Management Academic Research Society, International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, vol. 6(6), pages 56-75, June.
    12. Mkuna, Eliaza, 2014. "East Africa Community (EAC) Non Tariff Barriers and their Effects on Tanzanian Small and Medium Agro Enterprises Cross Border Trade," Research Theses 243444, Collaborative Masters Program in Agricultural and Applied Economics.
    13. Baskaran, Thushyanthan & Blesse, Sebastian, 2019. "Subnational border reforms and economic development in Africa," ZEW Discussion Papers 18-027, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research, revised 2019.
    14. Marinov, Eduard, 2014. "Регионална Икономическа Интеграция В Африка (Дисертация) [Regional Economic Integration in Africa (Ph.D. Thesis, full text)]," MPRA Paper 60591, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Stender, Frederik & Vogel, Tim, 2021. "Murky trade waters: Regional tariff commitments and non-tariff measures in Africa," IDOS Discussion Papers 13/2021, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS).
    16. Kohnert, Dirk, 2019. "L'éthique de l'intégration régionale et continentale africaine [The ethics of African regional and continental integration]," MPRA Paper 95579, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Hasan Tuluy, 2016. "Regional Economic Integration in Africa," Global Journal of Emerging Market Economies, Emerging Markets Forum, vol. 8(3), pages 334-354, September.
    18. Kis, Katalin, 2017. "A Kelet-afrikai Közösség belső kereskedelmére ható tényezők [Factors determining the intra-regional trade of the East African Community]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(9), pages 943-969.
    19. Ousmane Traoré, 2021. "Convergence in public health expenditure across the Sub-Saharan African countries: does club convergence matter?," Health Economics Review, Springer, vol. 11(1), pages 1-14, December.
    20. Edwin Yingi, 2022. "Beyond the pandemic: Implications of COVID-19 on regional economic integration in Southern Africa," International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science (2147-4478), Center for the Strategic Studies in Business and Finance, vol. 11(2), pages 270-279, March.
    21. Lin, Boqiang & Sai, Rockson, 2022. "Has mining agglomeration affected energy productivity in Africa?," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 244(PA).
    22. Kohnert, Dirk, 2019. "The ethics of African regional and continental integration," MPRA Paper 95562, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    23. Yvonne Umulisa, 2020. "Estimation of the East African Community's trade benefits from promoting intra‐regional trade," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 32(1), pages 55-66, March.
    24. Merran Hulse, 2014. "Actorness beyond the European Union: Comparing the International Trade Actorness of SADC and ECOWAS," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(3), pages 547-565, May.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    regional integration;

    JEL classification:

    • F15 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Economic Integration
    • O19 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - International Linkages to Development; Role of International Organizations

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