Strengthening Popular Participation In The African Union

The African Union (AU) has committed to a vision of Africa that is integrated, prosperous and peaceful driven by its own citizens, a dynamic force in the global arena (Vision and Mission of the African Union, May 2004). This guide is an effort to take up the challenge of achieving this vision. It is a tool to assist activists to engage with AU policies and programmes. It describes the AU decision-making process and outlines the roles and responsibilities of the AU institutions. It also contains a sampling of the experiences of those non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that have interacted with the AU.

The African Union (AU) has committed to a vision of Africa that is "integrated, prosperous and peaceful ... driven by its own citizens, a dynamic force in the global arena" (Vision and Mission of the African Union, May 2004). Strengthening Popular Participation in the African Union aims to take up the challenge of achieving this vision. It is a tool to assist activists to engage with AU policies and programmes. It describes the AU decision-making process and outlines the roles and responsibilities of the AU institutions. This guide aims to help those organizations that wish to engage the AU but do not currently know where to start by providing an outline of the key institutions and processes and suggesting ways to influence them. The guide is divided into three sections: *Part 1: A description of AU organs and institutions. *Part 2: Suggestions on how to influence AU decisions and policy processes. *Part 3: A summary of the debate to restructure the AU into a "Union Government."

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.

"Towards a People-Driven African Union: Current Obstacles & New Opportunities presents research on the preparations for and conduct of African Union summits, from some of the civil society organizations currently working with the African Union to realize its own vision. It concludes that, although significant space has been opened up for greater and more sustained participation by a diversity of interested groups, the promise of a people-driven African Union (AU) remains largely unfulfilled. Inadequate institutional capacity and inappropriate policies and procedures have hindered the realisation of the vision that the AU should build 'a partnership between governments and all segments of civil society ... to strengthen solidarity and cohesion among our peoples.' Many institutional obstacles still block the realization of the African Union's original vision. There is a growing perception among civil society organizations that the initial AU enthusiasm for non-state participation in its policy development processes has given way to a more closed stance. Despite the reorganization of the former OAU secretariat into the AU Commission, many staff seemed to retain their old habits and attitudes. There are still considerable difficulties in obtaining access to information about policies and documents under discussion by AU organs, preventing effective participation by Africa's citizens in continental decision-making processes. Moreover, the sheer proliferation of AU ministerial meetings, ordinary and extraordinary summits is taking a heavy toll on both the AU Commission and governments, according to this report. Unless Commission budget shortfalls and capacity constraints in member states are remedied, the African Union will not be able to deliver on the promise of its decisions, resolutions and treaties. The report calls on the African Union Commission and member states to take urgent action to simplify and improve the multiplicity of legal frameworks, incoherent institutional arrangements and unclear policies and procedures, and to provide more consistent and timely access to documentation in all its processes."--Publisher description.

Examines and compares diplomatic practices and normative change in the African Union and ASEAN.

Questions surrounding democracy, governance, and development especially in the view of Africa have provoked acrimonious debates in the past few years. It remains a perennial question why some decades after political independence in Africa the continent continues experiencing bad governance, lagging behind socioeconomically, and its democracy questionable. We admit that a plethora of theories and reasons, including iniquitous and malicious ones, have been conjured in an attempt to explain and answer the questions as to why Africa seems to be lagging behind other continents in issues pertaining to good governance, democracy and socio-economic development. Yet, none of the theories and reasons proffered so far seems to have provided enduring solutions to Africa’s diverse complex problems and predicaments. This book dissects and critically examines the matrix of Africa’s multifaceted problems on governance, democracy and development in an attempt to proffer enduring solutions to the continent’s long-standing political and socio-economic dilemmas and setbacks.

This book examines civil society's peacebuilding role in sub-Saharan Africa in the context of climate change and the pursuit of environmental peace and justice in the Anthropocene. Five main research themes emerge from its 20 chapters: · The roles of environmental peacemaking, environmental justice, ecological education and eco-ethics in helping to mitigate the impacts of climate change · Peacebuilding by CSOs after violent conflicts, with particular reference to accountability, reconciliation and healing · CSO involvement in democratic processes and political transition after violent conflicts · Relationships between local CSOs and their foreign funders and the interactions between CSOs and the African Union's peace and security architecture. · The particular role of faith-based CSOs The book underlines the centrality of dialogue to African peacebuilding and the indigenous wisdom and philosophies on which it is based. Such wisdom will be a key resource in confronting the existential challenges of the Anthropocene. The book will be a significant resource for researchers, academics and policymakers concerned with the challenge of climate change, its interactions with armed conflict and the peacebuilding role of CSOs. · This pathbreaking book shows why peacebuilding analysis and efforts need to be urgently re-oriented towards the existential challenges of environmental peace and justice. · It explains the emerging conceptual frameworks which are needed for this new role. · It explains the critical role that CSOs - local and international - will play in implementing this new peacebuilding approach, with particular reference to sub- Saharan Africa.