Abstract
"EXTERNAL ACTORS AND REGIONAL ECONOMIC INTEGRATION: A STUDY OF THE EUROPEAN UNION AND THE ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES"
The main focus of this essay is to examine the effects of external actors on the performance of regional economic integration efforts on the European Union and the Economic Community of West African States. From the numerous actors in the international system we chose to highlight the effects of powerful states and multinational corporations on the regional economic schemes under study.
The purpose of selecting the two regions is to try to understand why the European Union seem to make progess in the scope of integration whilst ECOWAS, like other similar schemes in the developing world, have not made any significant progress since its inception. We try to examine this in light of the effects of external actors on these regions. In the attempt to examine the issues involved we put forward the following hypotheses: (a) That external actors' interests vis a vis reional bodies can determine the rate of success or failure of integration schemes. (b) That differences in the power relationship between an actor and a regional scheme can determine the level of success or failure of the latter.
In terms of presentation we have divided the work into five chapters. Chapter 1, an introductory one, is somehow omnibus in nature. Here, we examined issues ranging from historical backdrops of the two regions through literature review to methological approach.
Chapter 2 puts the light on the effets of external actors on the European Union. We looked at this in terms of interest and the power relationship between the EU and its external actor: which was mainly the United States. The effect of MNCs from USA and Japan was also discussed.
Chapter 3 puts the attention on ECOWAS and its external actors. The effect of ex-colonial powers especially France and Britain was examined. We also gave attention to the impact of MNCs on the integration effort.
Chapter 4 is comparative in nature. Here, we tried to make a comparative analysis of the effects of external actors in the two regions. What differences exist in external actors' interest and power relationship vis a vis the two regions and how this affects the performance of the integration effort in the chosen cases.
Chapter 5 gives conclusion to our study. This is drawn in the light of the hypotheses we put forward in chapter 1.