Regionalism in Africa: a Case Study of the East African Community

The number of regional organizations in Africa has increased substantially over the past thirty years even though their success has been dismal. In addition to poor performance, traditional theories of economics cooperation are no longer relevant in explaining the existence of these organizations because African leaders have placed politics above economics. Using the East African Community as a case study, this book examines the creation, maintenance and performance of regional economic organizations by analyzing the goals and activities of African leaders. This book reveals that regional organizations have been successful whenever the objective at hand does not threaten the goals of the Heads of State of member countires. However, this book also shows that member countries can benefit from regional economic organizations if they focus on the production and export of food crops. This book sheds light on the role of politics in regional economic organizations in Africa, and should be useful to students of African politics, foreign aid donors, multi-national corporations, investors, and business-people in African countries