Regional Integration and Economic Development: A Study of Economic Community of West African States, 2015-2020
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51699/mjssh.v2i6.674Keywords:
ECOWAS, Regional Integration, Economic DevelopmentAbstract
The integration of different regions in the world has become an increasingly important factor in the economic development of the world. This is particularly true for the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) which is made up of fifteen West African countries. The last five years have seen a significant increase in regional integration in the region, in both economic and political terms. However, regional integration is not without its challenges which inhibited the regional block towards economic development. Therefore, this study examined the role of regional integration on the economic development of ECOWAS, 2015-2022. The study is anchored on the neo-functionalism theory by Ernst B. Haas in the 1960s. This study adopted a historical approach. Data were sourced from the secondary method which include books, journal publications, newspapers and government publication; which were subjected to content analysis. The findings revealed that the main factors that have contributed to the economic disparity between ECOWAS member states are political factors, geopolitical issues, and social disparities with an immense gap in economic performance across the 15 countries. The major challenges to achieving political consensus in the ECOWAS region for economic development of the region include the artificial colonial borders that leads to boundary disputes, armed disputes, high degree of distrust among Member States, inefficacy of the regional institutions, limited recognition of local identities, low capacity of ECOWAS states to comply with regional objectives, the presence of non-state actors, the inability of the region to effectively address intra-state conflicts, economic challenges of members, limited capacity of governments to implement regional regulations, and the lack of coordination between States within the ECOWAS. Despites some observed drawback ECOWAS has the capability of engineering socio-economic development of the region. Based on the identified findings, the study recommended that ECOWAS should seek to strengthen its internal challenges of political and economic reoccurring crisis as the endogenous factors are the foundation and thereafter form international alliances and be open to cooperation with external actors. In order to successfully implement its policies, ECOWAS should collaborate with external actors in order to ensure that these policies are in line with international law and regulations but the emphasis is on the harmonization of endogenous factors.
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