BOOK REVIEW – CRITIQUE BIBLIOGRAPHIQUE

AuthorRichard Frimpong Oppong
DOI10.3366/E0954889008000091
Date01 March 2008
Pages115-118
Published date01 March 2008
<p>Economic integration has been promoted as essential for the development of Africa. Currently, the principal vehicle for integration in the West Africa sub-region is the Economic Community of West African States [ECOWAS]. A lot has been written on ECOWAS from socio-economic and political perspectives. What has so far been missing is a comprehensive study of ECOWAS from a legal or institutional perspective. It is a defining characteristic of Africa's integration processes that the role of law, rules or institutions has not been emphasised. The process has been a political construct fortified by economic theory with the central role of law or institutions missing. Indeed, a 2006 report of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa found the existing legal framework for Africa's integration ‘ambiguous and imprecise’. It is against this background that Dr. Kofi Oteng Kufuor's book <italic>The Institutional Transformation of the Economic Community of West African States</italic> is timely and welcomed. It is the singular contribution of Kufuor's work that while not ignoring the importance of the socio-economic and political perspectives, he brings to bear on the study of ECOWAS a legal and institutional perspective that is at once critical and rigorous.</p> <p>Chapter one provides the theoretical framework namely, new institutional economics (NIE) and ordoliberalism which informs the discussion of various aspects of ECOWAS in subsequent chapters. As the reader will subsequently realise, other theoretical perspectives are brought to bear in the remaining chapters of the book. While ECOWAS has been studied and analysed from many angles, this is the first time that the insights of NIE and ordoliberalism are being brought to bear on the study of ECOWAS. The fact that these two theoretical perspectives incorporate insights from many disciplines including economics, political science, sociology, and anthropology makes them particularly apposite for understanding the intricacies of economic integration in general and ECOWAS in particular. Throughout the chapter, Kufuor provides leads which allow the reader to anticipate the subsequent discussions of the impact of the respective theory under discussion on the workings of the ECOWAS.</p> <p>History informs the present. To understand economic integration in West Africa, this saying is particularly apposite. Accordingly, chapter two of the book discusses the origins and evolution of regional integration in West Africa. As regards regional...</p>

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