Africa Regional Cooperation And The World Market

Under the regime of the World Trade Organization, local and regional policies are increasingly determined by global factors. One example is the New Partnership for Africa's Development. It stresses an earlier notion of African Renaissance, which includes the emphasis on collective self-reliance, but at the same time seeks closer cooperation with the global trade system and its international agencies. Bi- and multilateral trade relations between external actors and individual African states or regional blocs are becoming ever more decisive. This is also true of the more recently negotiated Economic Partnership Agreements in the post-Lomé era of EU-African relations. In light of such trends the question of coherence between â__trade as aidâ__ and other areas of development strategy and cooperation remains to be answered. The contributions to this Discussion Paper reflect upon related matters of socio-economically viable strategies seeking to reconcile the global and the regional in an African perspective. They were originally presented to the Panel â__Regional Cooperation in Sub-Saharan Africa: Between Collective Self-Reliance and Global Trade Regimesâ__ organized by the Nordic Africa Institute within the 11th General Conference of the European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes in September 2005 in Bonn. This publication is useful for economists, political scientists, policy makers and other professionals dealing with Africa in development assistance and in trade.

Regional cooperation and integration within industry and trade in Southern Africa is analysed in relation to three central elements: general approaches, South African Development Coordination Conference and the World Bank.

A critical appraisal of regionalism as a key strategy in Africa's development explaining the failures thus far of attempts at regional integration on the continent. This is the first text to highlight the main features of the new post-1990 regional initiatives such as the all-embracing African Economic Community and World Bank, IMF, African Development Bank, EC and French initiatives and the challenges to Africa from trading blocs elsewhere in the post-Uruguay Round environment.

The cooperation approach of the SADCC countries; Other regional cooperation schemes; Regional market integration and food security; Alternative regional cooperation arrangements to stabilize food consumption.

Based on Africa's deep routed structural problems, the key aspect of a transformative regional integration is how to promote structural transformation by adapted strategies and policies for the African regional economic communities, for the Continental Free Trade Area, and for the Tripartite Free Trade Area. Regional integration in Africa is based on a conventional (linear) model, starting with trade preference zones and moving to free trade areas, customs unions, and monetary and economic zones, with the ultimate goal to reach political unity. Specific problems of a more transformative regional integration agenda are discussed, such as: ?food security and agriculture; industry development, enterprise growth and competition; and economic partnership agreements with extra-regional partners. In the final section, the impact of three global value chains of importance for Africa (diamonds, shea butter, and sesame) are considered on regions, on sub-regions, and on regional integration. (Series: African Development Perspectives Yearbook, Vol. 18) [Subject: African Studies, Economics

Essays examine security, political, financial, and economic organizations in Africa, and discuss the problems and prospects of each group.

This book contains a collection of papers that examine the failure of regional integration and co-operation to date in west Africa and that explore some of the options for the revitalization of such initiatives. The papers are arranged in three categories: strategic visions and prospects for regional integration and co-operation; economic perspectives; and political dimensions. Specific topics include the role of the Economic Community of West African States; theoretical models and approaches to regional integration; the role of community building in regional integration; partnerships for innovation; national policies as impediments to economic integration; parallel trade as a form of economic subversion; lessons from the West African Monetary Union; human rights and integration; the regional dimension of environmental management; and power sharing at the regional level.

The contributions identify and review current issues of regionalism and regional integration within the era of globalization in the African context. Their approaches present different theoretical and regional perspectives which provide new insights, challenge existing concepts and perceptions and contribute to an enriched debate.