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Significant historical events leading up to the birth of the OAU
This sequence of events leading up to the formation of the OAU highlights a number of interesting factors that have shaped the pursuit of Africa’s integration agenda till date. As earlier argued and supported by the record of events presented in the table above, the pursuit of integration and Africa’s unity traces its ideological roots to the Pan Africanist movement and the call for Africa to unite in the fight against colonial rule. Nkrumah (1963) articulated this call for unity and integration with the following words:
Africa, it is frequently maintained is poor. Yet it is widely acknowledged that its potentials provide tremendous possibilities for the wealthy growth of the continent, already known to contain vast mineral and power resources. The economic weakness of the new African states has been inherited from the colonial background, which subordinated their development to the needs of the colonial powers. To reverse the position and bring Africa into the realm of highly productive modern nations, calls for a gigantic self-help programme. Such a programme can only be produced and implemented by integrated planning within an over-all policy decided by a continental authority.
By situating the call for African unity alongside the fight for decolonisation, Nkrumah was making a case that Africa could only emerge from its past of subjugation and develop its economies to be globally competitive through a common political authority. He was obviously influenced by his strongly socialist inclinations and appreciation for centralized planning, but his philosophy of ‘strength in unity’ has been a foundational consideration in Africa’s continuous pursuit of integration.
Another important consideration from this historical account is the fact that Africa’s colonial past and the fight for independence supplied the institutional and leadership foundation upon which the continental integration edifice was laid. The colonial administration in most countries endowed them with their first infrastructure and economic development projects, including agricultural estates that continue today to contribute towards the export earnings of some African countries.
The colonial administrators also often administered groups of countries together, which facilitated the pursuit of cooperation by these countries after their independence. The British colonial administration created common research institutions for Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, as well as common transportation systems, laying the foundations for future economic cooperation leading up to the formation of the East African Community (EAC). Similarly the French administration managed its territories under French Equatorial and West Africa, which eventually led to the formation of a monetary union amongst these countries post-independence. Though it was disintegrated at independence, the East African Community (EAC) has been reconstituted and is today one of the African Union’s most successful Regional Economic Communities (REC), a coherence which can be traced back to their shared colonial experience of cooperation. This was also facilitated by the infrastructural linkages (especially rail) created under the colonial administration. In the case of West African integration, the ‘West African Economic and Monetary Union’ (UEMOA in French) assembling a number of former French colonies in West Africa has evolved as a custom and monetary union within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). A sort of integration arrangement (UEMOA) within another integration arrangement (ECOWAS) and often considered as more advanced due to its monetary integration which is clearly of colonial origin. In this instance, as has been argued in the case of EAC, the linkages that existed between these countries under colonial rule constituted a platform for the pursuit of cooperation and integration in their post-independence.
The political and economic integration of Africa
From a historical perspective, there have been arguably four critical moments shaping the continent’s political and economic integration trajectory. This has been the formation of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in 1963, the adoption of the Lagos Plan of Action (LPA) and the Final Act of Lagos (FAL) in 1980, the adoption of the Abuja Treaty establishing the African Economic Community (AEC) in 1991 and the establishment of the African Union in 2001, including the creation of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD). The OAU charter and the Constitutive Act establishing the AU define regional integration as one of the anchoring ideals of African unity. The Lagos Plan of Action and the Abuja Treaty establishing the African Economic Community spell out the economic, political and institutional mechanisms for attaining this ideal, while NEPAD has been defined as the overarching development framework for the region (UNECA 2004:1). Together these constitute the policy framework within which the continent’s integration is being pursued. They provide the context for fostering the political and economic integration of Africa driven by the African Union and its institutions. An examination of the contribution of these different initiatives to the advancement of the continental integration agenda shall be carried out in the subsections that follow.
The Organisation of African Unity (OAU)
The Organization of African Unity (OAU) was created to promote unity and solidarity amongst African States. It was intended to serve as a platform to coordinate the efforts to achieve a better life for the peoples of Africa (OAU, 1981). This greater cooperation amongst African states was to be achieved through the coordination and harmonisation of their policies in a number of areas particularly through the promotion of political, diplomatic and economic cooperation.
According to Article 2 of the OAU charter, the purpose of the organisation was, amongst others: to promote the unity and solidarity of the African states; to defend their sovereignty, their territorial ntegrity and independence; to eradicate all forms of colonialism from Africa and to promote nternational cooperation having due regard to the charter of the United Nations and the Universal eclaration of Human Rights. The main avenue for the accomplishment of these objectives was policy coordination and cooperation in a number of spheres including: political and diplomatic ooperation; ecconomic cooperation, including transport and communications; educational and cultural cooperation; health, sanitation and nutritional cooperation; scientific and technical cooperation and cooperation for defence and security.
The aspirations towards greater cooperation were partly sidelined by the organisation’s preoccupation with the fight for the total liberation of the continent from colonialism and apartheid in South Africa. This remained a core objective that drove the OAU, from its inception in 1963 to 1975. During this period, the OAU was mainly concerned with (a) the inter-state conflicts that took place at the time, and (b) with political support to the struggle for eradicating racist and colonial rule in southern Africa (Bujra 2002). This gave the continental organisation a largely political focus in the first decade of its operation with less attention given to issues of economic integration.
Chapter 1: Research background
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Definition of Concepts
1.3 Problem Statement
1.4 Hypothesis Formulation
1.5 Aims and Objectives
1.6 Research Methodology
1.7 Chapter Outline
1.8 Conclusion
Chapter 2: The European Union experience of integration
2.1 Introduction
2.2 The political integration of Europe
2.3 The social integration of Europe
2.4 The economic integration of Europe
2.5 The European Union and its institutions of integration
2.6 Conclusion
Chapter 3: The African Union and regional integration in Africa
3.1 Introduction
3.2 The historical context of Africa’s integration
3.3 The political and economic integration of Africa
3.4 The African Union institutions of integration
3.5 The implementation challenges of regional integration in Africa
3.6 Conclusion
Chapter 4: The Evolution of EU-Africa Relations
4.1 Introduction
4.2 The colonial context of EU-Africa relations
4.3 EU- Africa relations in the post-colonial era
4.4 The Joint Africa-European Union strategic partnership
4.5 Europe and Africa’s comparative experiences of integration
4.6 Conclusion
Chapter 5: Investigating the diffusion of regional integration: An analytical framework
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Diffusion frameworks and mechanisms
5.3 The EU as a promoter of regional integration
5.4 African agency in encouraging diffusion
5.5 Investigating diffusion using a process tracing methodology
5.6 Conclusion
Chapter 6: Results and Discussion
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Findings from archives consultation
6.3 Analysis from Interviews
6.4 Discussion of Results
6.5 Conclusion
Chapter 7: Conclusion: Applicability of European process of regional integration to the African Context
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Summary of Findings
7.3 Policy implications and recommendations
7.4 Applicability of the European process of regional integration to the African context
7.5 Conclusion
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