) Regionalism - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

)

Regionalism

in Africa. Genealogies, institutions and trans-state networks

http://

sciencespobordeaux.academia.edu

/

DanielBachSlide2

-The ‘world of

regions ‘ (the triad, etc)

- The shift towards a more polycentric world requires new grids of analysis (‘clés d’interprétation’)

The

regionalism

vs regionalisation dichotomy (end of the systematic assimilation of regionalism to regional integration )- A ‘ world of regionalisms’ shaped by the diversity of genealogies, institutions and network-led processes

Introduction:

the revival of regionalism as a global trendSlide3

- The

need to look beyond the multiplicity of regional

groupings : the five African ‘threads’-Africa is a crucible

(

un creuset

) for the study of the dynamics at play2. Making sense of the African ‘maze’ : the ‘threads’ of African regionalism as global prototypesSlide4

Thread 1: (colonial) history matters! Amalgamation and integration through hysteresis

The map of colonial federations in 1953From common services to regional economic

integration (SACU and CFA monetary one) and inter-governmental l organisations (IGOs)From amalgamation to federalism (Nigeria)The resilience of ‘mental

maps

’ (

Federalism in Southern and East Africa; the FLS network…)Slide5

Thread 2: Regional groupings are key arenas for the conduct of Africa’s international relations

Three key features: ‘club’ diplomacy (inter-personal relations), summitry and progressive engagement with civil societyAid and Patronage

Nation-building, sovereignty ‘enhancement’ and (autoritarian or democratic) regime consolidation.A conclusion:Multiple and overlapping memberships are/were functional in order to achieve these politico-strategic goals. (the illusion of anarchy) Multiple memberships are incompatible with Common External Tariffs and CUs (hence the so-called rationalisation debates)Slide6

Thread 3: Cognitive maps and holistic agendas: the RECsSlide7

The reinvention of Pan-africanism in the 1990sThe EU as a source of inspirationThe broadening of agendas n(AU Peace

and security architecture…)The emergence of distinctive regional governance et security culturesThe Challenge of multiple memberships (the EPA

negotiations as a stress test)Slide8

Thread 4: Regionalisation without region-building

Since the establishment of colonial boundary-lines, tariff, fiscal, currency and normative disparities act as powerful incentives to cross-border interactions and integrationTwo prototypes:West Africa’s ‘warehouse’ state model (John Igué): Benin,

the Gambia, Togo…The DRC and Great Lakes Region: predatory forms of exploitation of cross border disparities (instrumentalisation of violence and insecurity; the rise of ‘entrepreneurs of insecurity’): the DRC and Great Lakes region…A dissociation between

regionalism

and regionalisation ‘Informality’ as a myth (trans-state networks)Regionalisation as an impediment to region-building. New criminal and security threats are becoming associated with these network-

led

regionalisation

processesSlide9

Thread 5: Integration through ‘defragmentation’ and connectivity‘Defragmentation’ as a tool of (global) integration

Free Trade agreements as a step towards ‘deep integration’ (Tripartite agreement, CFTA)A challenge to the classic

Vinerian pyramid The renewed focus on both hard and soft infrastructuresTechnological ‘leapfrogging’: connectivity and innovation (cell phone technology & banking…)A new generation of African entrepreneurs and

capitalists

The

dilution of the frontiers betwen national, regional and global integrationSlide10
Slide11

)

Thank

You!