We will build on this research in 2017 and beyond with our PEDRO project, which widens the scope by examining the political economy dynamics of 18 regional organisations across Africa. This ensured that our findings fed back into discussions on the ground regarding regional integration. We also presented the study at the AU Commission to more than 200 stakeholders, including think tanks, civil society and the AU Commission itself.
Regional economic blocs series#
These studies served as the basis for bringing together academics and policymakers from Europe and Africa in a series of seminars on the topic in Brussels. The work covers their commitments in various sectors, such as peace and security, infrastructure and climate change. In 2016, we presented the results in six comprehensive studies: on the African Union and Africa’s five largest regional economic communities (RECs). Experts from all five ECDPM programmes together analysed the role in regional integration played by African regional organisations. Who actually drives, influences and blocks regional integration agendas in Africa? What actors and factors have an impact on the progress that is and is not being made?ĭriven by these questions, ECDPM began PERIA, a centre-wide project to study the political economy of regional integration in Africa. In the many years that we have worked on regional integration in Africa, we have witnessed growing frustration with the slow pace of progress and lack of results. Too often, agreements on paper have simply failed to materialise in practice. However, this abundance of means has often fallen short of tangible impacts. These have aimed to strengthen collaboration across the continent, to tackle common challenges together. Yet, while there is agreement that countries need to work together, implementation of regional programmes has often failed to match stated ambitions.Īfrica has witnessed an ever-growing panorama of regional organisations and policies supporting regional integration. Nations cannot solve the development challenges they face alone.
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