This book explores innovative and context-driven political and legal policy measures designed to expand the powers of the African Union (AU) in order to meaningfully drive the continental integration process. In this regard, the book addresses issues of context, political will, and innovative and inclusive approaches as essential elements that must be considered.
Africa is currently experiencing one of the most critical phases of its integrative development. Since 2015, there have been increasing efforts to develop policies and practices that grant the AU broader powers to coordinate and create binding rules regarding the regional integration process. In other words, these processes seek to endow the AU with supranational powers like those exercised by the European Union, which, despite its internal problems, remains the most successful experiment in supranationalism in the world.
This has included the decision to finance the AU through a 0.2% tax on eligible imports into member states; the decision to reduce the number of AU Commission portfolios from eight to six; the adoption and entry into force of the much touted Agreement establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area; the adoption of the Protocol to the Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community Relating to Free Movement of Persons, Right to Residence and Right of Establishment; and the adoption of the AU Agenda 2063 policy framework in 2015. How these processes will change the direction of regional integration in Africa, the book argues, largely depends on the existence of quality-driven institutions.
Author(s): Babatunde Fagbayibo
Publisher: Springer
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 176
City: Cham
Acknowledgment
Contents
Abbreviations
List of Figure
List of Tables
Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 Background
1.2 A Diverse Continent
1.3 Commingling of Law and Politics
1.4 Structure of the Book
References
Chapter 2: The Idea of Continental Supranationalism
2.1 Introduction
2.2 The Concept of Supranationalism
2.3 Pan-Africanism: The Philosophical Underpinning of Unity
2.4 Continental Supranationalism in Africa
2.4.1 Pace
2.4.2 Nature
2.4.3 Context
2.5 Conclusion
References
Chapter 3: The African Union
3.1 Introduction
3.2 The Establishment of the AU
3.3 The AU Constitutive Act
3.4 How Supranational Is the AU?
3.4.1 Intention
3.4.2 Action
3.4.3 Outcomes
3.5 Conclusion
References
Chapter 4: Understanding the Interplay of Law and Politics in the Matrix of Continental Supranationalism
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Imitation: Copying and Pasting the EU Template
4.3 Complex Relational Dynamics
4.3.1 AU-REC Relations
4.3.2 AU-Member States Relations
4.3.3 AU-Civil Society Relations
4.4 The Politics of Reforms
4.4.1 Powerplay Between the Maximalists and the Minimalists (2005-2011)
4.4.2 Pragmatic Incrementalism (2015: Present)
4.4.3 The Problematics of Reform Efforts
4.5 Conclusion
References
Chapter 5: Transcending Member States
5.1 Introduction
5.2 A Repurposed African Worldview
5.3 A Triptych Analysis
5.3.1 Internal Dynamics: Repositioning the Centre
5.3.1.1 Pillar 1: Broader Institutional Realignment and Reforms
Technocratic Competence of the AU Commission
Reforming PAP and ACJ&HR
5.3.1.2 Pillar 2: Self-restraining Measures
5.3.1.3 Pillar 3: Bottom-up Supranational Regionalism
5.3.1.4 Pillar 4: Enhanced State Capacity
5.3.2 External Dynamics: Navigating the Shifting Global Geo-Political Landscape
5.3.3 Syncretic Dynamics: Towards ``Strategic Hybridisation´´
5.4 Conclusion
References
Chapter 6: Conclusion
6.1 Summary of Findings
6.2 Issues for Further Research and Policy Approaches
List of Treaties
List of Cases
