Gowon, Yakubu (1984) The Economic Community of West African States : a study in political and economic integration. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

The creation of ECOWAS in May 1975 marked the successful outcome
of protracted negotiations that had begun shortly after independence, and
which reflected the mounting sense of unease in Africa and throughout the
Third World that political independence did not signify effective control
by the new states of their economies. Hence the numerous experiments at
integration within the region, some mainly political and others more economic
in character. All, however, contributed to the movement towards regional
economic integration and ECOWAS.
The Ghana-Guinea Union attempted briefly to bridge the unfortunate
linguistic and cultural divide separating former British and French territories
In West Africa. The Union was restricted, however, to political cooperation
between leaders with more or less compatible and radical ideologies, who
were a small minority within the region as a whole. With independence the
very number and diversity of West African states seemed to dictate a different
and more gradual approach to unity based, initially, on economic cooperation and
functional inter-dependence, and that has been the policy of every Nigerian
government since 1960.
If I have emphasised the role played by Nigeria, particularly after
1970, it is because international agencies and our future partners themselves
recognised that, without Nigeria, there could be no effective West African
community. By reason of its size, population and oil resources, Nigeria
constitutes a core state, with no interest in territorial aggrandisement but
concerned, understandably, with its own security and, therefore, with the
stability of the region. These objectives are best served by policies of
political cooperation, economic integration and adoption of a form of collective
self-reliance. Here Nigeria's perception of its development and security needs
has coincided increasingly with those of the other states within the region.
Particular attention has been given to the Francophone states, who
are the majority within West African and whose changing relationship with
the metropole on the one hand, and with Nigeria on the other, is central to
our analysis. The promise of the Ghana-Guinea Union was finally realised
thanks to the growing cooperation after 1970 between Nigeria and Togo who,
together, formed the nucleus of the West African community in 1972. Economic
Integration in the 'seventies was also facilitated by (a) the reduced importance
of ideological differences within the region; (b) the mounting economic
difficulties confronting states as a result of the global economic crisis and
increased oil prices after 1973, but alleviated by timely Nigerian assistance;
(c) the example of regional integration within the EEC, soon to be expanded
to include Britain; and (d) the successful outcome in 1975 of the Lome
negotiations between the EEC and the African-Pacific-Caribbean states.
The greater part of the thesis is concerned with the formation of
ECOWAS and the negotiations, between July 1966 and May 1975, in which I was
privileged to participate. While my own association with ECOWAS ended
shortly afterwards, in July 1975, there was, fortunately, no such interruption
in the development of the community. It seemed appropriate, therefore, to
extend the scope of the thesis to encompass the first formative years of the
community, 1975-1979, which saw the establishment of the principal ECOWAS
institutions, the adoption of the more important protocols, and the first
difficult steps towards their implementation.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	D History General and Old World > DT Africa H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Economic Community of West African States -- History, Africa, West -- Economic conditions -- 1960-, Africa, West -- Politics and government -- 1960-
Official Date:	February 1984
Dates:	Date Event February 1984 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Department of Politics and International Studies
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Campbell, Ian
Extent:	v, A-C, 636, 176 leaves
Language:	eng

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