Security Regionalism in West Africa after the trade agreement ECOWAS. Smoothing the rough edges (eBook)

Seminar paper from the year 2018 in the subject Politics - Topic: Peace and Conflict, Security, grade: 75.0, University of Ghana, Legon, language: English, abstract: This paper analyzes the security issues and its reasons for the region West Africa. Furthermore the author explains the trade agreement Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and its impacts as well as solutions.

ECOWAS was formed on May 28, 1975 to promote economic integration in West Africa. The realization of this economic integration agenda was largely due to Nigeria’s regional leadership in West Africa. However, Nigeria’s attempts were met with stiff opposition from the Francophone bloc led by Cote d’Ivoire with support from France in the 1970s. Though often blown out of proportion, there has historically been a raging antagonism between the Anglophone and Francophone blocs in West Africa. On its part, fearing Nigeria’s domination in any West African integration scheme, France supported Cote d’Ivoire’s hostility towards Nigeria. In a February-March 1971 tour in most of the former French colonies, President Pompidou warned against Nigeria’s domination and urged them to harmonize their efforts to counter balance the heavy weight of Nigeria. The result was the formation of West African Economic Community’s (CEAO) in 1973. In the words of Engel and Jouanjean (2015), France perceived Nigeria as a major threat to its chasse gardée, French West Africa, as it made use of Cote d’Ivoire’s economic might and Senegal’s cultural heritage.