Constructing The East African Community

This book provides a systematic analysis of the establishment and decision-making processes concerning the institutional design of the East African Community (EAC) throughout the 1990s and discusses to what extent these were impacted and inspired by other regional organizations from Africa and Europe. Analysing the decision-making processes that led to the set-up of the EAC, the book explores the extent to which they were impacted by several other regional organizations, namely the Organization of African Unity (OAU), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the European Union (EU), and the first EAC. The findings indicate that the relevant east African state and non-state actors adopted substantial aspects from the first EAC, the EU, and the COMESA and adapted them to set up the current EAC. This book demonstrates that the perception of other regional organizations and their institutional design considerably effected the construction of the EAC; here, its own past provided crucial learning objectives, which challenges the notion of mimicry or replica regional organizations of the EU in the Global South. This work will be of particular interest to scholars and students of regional and international organizations, international relations, multilevel governance approaches as well as diffusion literature.

A report, requested by the East African Community (EAC) Secretariat, that provides an assessment and recommendations as to policy, legal, institutional and financial product actions the EAC could take to promote increased private investment in the Community’s regional infrastructure.

The countries in the East African Community (EAC) are among the fastest growing economies in sub-Saharan Africa. The EAC countries are making significant progress toward financial integration, including harmonization of supervisory arrangements and practices and the modernization of monetary policy frameworks. This book focuses on regional integration in the EAC and argues that the establishment of a time table for the eliminating the sensitive-products list and establishing a supranational legal framework for resolving trade disputes are important reforms that should foster regional integration.

The post-independence integration endeavor of the East African Community has been punctuated with challenges, culminating into the collapse of the 1967-1977 regional organization. The renaissance of the integration agenda since the re-establishment of the regional organization in 1999 has rekindled epistemological debate among scholars and practitioners on the East African Community raison d'etre and integration process. This volume is the first of its kind in this ongoing debate that puts into proper context the nexus between the East African citizens and the integration agenda. Focusing on the Partner States case studies, the authors of the chapters operationalize the concepts of popular participation, eastafricanness, eastafricanization, democratization, and integration. Using political, national constitutions and EAC treaty, communication and awareness dimensions the authors of the chapters have analyzed the nexus between the EACcitizens and the integration process. The study generally proceeds from the premise that the exclusion of the EAC citizens from exercising their sovereign rights through popular participation undermines the prospects for the institutionalization and consolidation of the EAC identity, eastafricanness, eastafricanization, democratization and integration.