Introduction—Africa’s Regional Economic Communities (RECs)

The objective of this chapter is to set out the parameters of the study, the major questions and overall organization of the rest of the book. It introduces the question of interest: to examine the impact of country membership in Africa’s eight Regional Economic Communities (RECs) on the member states’ behavior across three major domains identified by Elzinga-Marshall and Marshall: the persistence of conflict, democratization and governance, and socio-economic development. RECs were first proposed in the 1980 Lagos Plan of Action and reaffirmed by the 1991 Abuja Treaty as the foundation of the African Economic Community (AEC), the ultimate goal of economic cooperation and integration. RECs are considered by the African Union (AU) to be both pillars of continental integration and possible political federation. The study’s assumptions are that a country’s membership in (one or more) RECs over time will positively correlate with good governance, socio-economic development and conflict reduction. It is also assumed that countries’ membership in RECs opens them up to other human and economic development benefits, and orients them to being better multilateral actors. Ultimately, the conclusion of the study is anticipated to show that REC membership (numeracity and longevity) obtains more benefits than not for the country and region, and that RECs can become norms entrepreneurs—socializing even conflictual countries into peace, good governance and development. The chapter also outlines how the rest of the book is organized, as well as the subsequent chapters.