To what extent has ECOWAS managed to fulfil its stated goals?

INTRODUCTION


Regional integration has been a major tendency in Africa since the end of the cold war. Regionalism is a “belief in regional co-operation and integration as a method to advance a region’s shared political, economic or security interests” (Nieuwerk, 2010, p.7). As most West-African countries gained independence in the 1960s, a rise in the desire for unity debuted. Emerging African leaders such as Nkrumah spread a visionary ideology of African supra-nationalism coined Pan-Africanism (Francis, 2005). The vision of African unity and mutual support, both as instruments for economic growth and as a defensive response to post-colonial threats became a drive for the formation of African multi-lateral institutions (Kacowicz, 1997; Francis, 2005). The creation of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in 1975 embodied the desire for socio-economic transformation in the region. ECOWAS now encompasses fifteen West-African countries: Benin, Côte d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, Burkina Faso and Cape Verde. These extensively culturally, demographically and institutionally different countries were driven by Pan-Africanist ideals, opportunities for economic growth and development, an the desire to curtail Western economic and political domination despite legal independence (Ojo, 1980; Kufuor, 2006). Kufuor argues that “One of the beliefs consistently adhered to by policy-makers in Africa is that regional integration is key to socioeconomic transformation”(Kufuor, 2006, p.IX). Has it been the case in West Africa? To what extent has ECOWAS managed to fulfil its stated goals? What accounts for the institution’s relative successes and failures? What does it suggest about African inter-state cooperation?

I argue that ECOWAS was predominantly unsuccessful at realising its stated objectives, thus highlighting the difficulty of African inter-state cooperation; due to both regional preexisting conditions and flawed integration mechanisms. I begin by outlining the goals of the institution in order to effectively assess their execution. I secondly account for preexisting contextual factors and the way they impede the organisation’s efficiency. In a third section I examine how the organisation was unsuccessful in the region by underscoring the effects of institutional and operational shortcomings, lack of political will, external influence, lack of regional unity, skewed power relations and unadapted collective peace operations. In a fourth section I account for the organisation’s achievements, focusing mainly on security and coordination aspects.


ECOWAS’ GOALS


In order to evaluate the efficiency of this regional institution, it is important to take into account the main objectives of ECOWAS. The 1975 founding treaty of Lagos outlines “It shall be the aim of the community to promote co-operation and development in all fields of economic activity” (Ecowas, 1975). The union took shape as a Free Trade area with the aim of raising living standards, enhance economic stability, and contribute to the development of the continent in order to attain collective self-sufficiency. The regional Economic Community works towards achieving autonomous West-African economic integration post-independence. Notable methods for the community to be achieved were the harmonisation and coordination of national policies and the promotion of integration programmes; the creation of an economic union and a common market through the adoption common policies; trade liberalisation; free of people; and the promotion of balanced development in the region (Ecowas, 1975). In July 1993, the treaty was revised, representing a shift in the organisation’s undertakings. It included fundamental security-related provisions: non-aggression, stability and security, through a peaceful settlement of disputes among member states and the promotion of human rights in a peaceful environment (Ecowas, 1993). The creation of the ECOMOG monitoring group in 1990, seizing the role of regional peace enforcer, is representative of the organisation’s security concerns (Van Nieuwerk, 2001). The ECOWAS vision 2020 program further highlights its present goals: good governance, peace, justice and upgraded conflict prevention in order to achieve sustained cooperation and integration (Bossyut, 2016). ECOWAS’ high ambitions generated a wave of hope in the region, however their implementation was way more complex than expected. The organisation’s outlined goals lay as a basis for our study.

PREEXISTING NATIONAL CONDITIONS - NEGATIVE EXTERNALITIES
 There are numerous arguments to take into account when analysing ECOWAS’ relative successes and failures. The first to consider is how the preconditions and foundational factors “mostly embedded in geographic, historical, demographic and economic characteristics in a region” affected the institution’s performance (Bossyut, 2016, p.2). The West-African setting has been characterised by instability, conflict, high poverty levels and social deprivation (Francis, 2005). It ranks particularly low regarding all human-development indicators: “Thirteen ECOWAS countries are classified in the low Human Development category and 60% of the population is estimated to live on less than one dollar a day” (Bossyut, 2016, p.7) A characteristic that undermines the institution’s concrete capacity. Because, for instance, poverty ensures the paucity of infrastructure in the region, which is key to the promotion of intra regional trade and integration (Uche, 2001).


Another chronic disability that ECOWAS faced in the region is the historical influence of colonialism on its member states. European imperialism in the region created an ethnic, linguistic cultural divide that impeded the process of regional unity, notably between Francophone and Anglophone states as will be discussed later in the paper (Bossyut, 2016). In addition, it left states with inadequate infrastructures for intraregional trade (Ogunfolu, 2009). There is a clear colonial legacy of strong external dependency: largely extractive based economies reliant on multi-national Corporations and foreign aid (Francis, 2005). Sierra Leone in 2001 received US$333.7 million, i.e. 44.5 per cent of external development aid (Francis, 2005). West-Africa has also been shaken by both direct post-independence and post-cold war international dynamics: periods where it saw its political systems’ change drastically and were affected by abrupt shifts in international support. Francis links both factors when he claims “the Post cold-war, third-wave of democratisation, led to overthrow of military dictatorships, collapses and civil wars.” (Francis, 2005, p.142)
 The West-African

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