Eastern and Western
PSCI 4783
SUMMARY OF:
The ECOWAS: From Regional
Economic Organization to Regional Peacekeeper
Peter M. Dennis and M. Leann Brown
From CRI: pp. 229-246
All information below was borrowed from
this source in order to provide a concise summary of the reading.
Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)
In 1990 ECOWAS took on the
task of peacekeeping in the Liberian civil war.
Currently ECOWAS is comprised
of 15 member states:
Former Colonial States
Francophone
States (French):
Anglophone
States (British):
Lusophone
States (Portuguese?):
History of
ECOWAS and ECOMOG:
ECOWAS
aimed to accelerate economic development and to pursue policies of regional
self-reliance.
-
Stated Objectives
o
Enhance and liberalize trade allowing free movement of goods, persons,
capital
o
Improve transportation and coordinate telecommunications (Infrastructure)
o
Promote industrial and agricultural growth
o
Increase and maintain citizens standard of living and economic stability
-
Constraints that were facing people in
o
Africans had to make connecting flights in
o
National policies didn’t let skilled workers migrate
o
Countries often refused to share status and prices of stocks to
foreigners
-
Political Obstacles that hindered the ECOWAS
upon its formation
o
Changes in member
state leadership
o
Lack of
democratic governance
-
Economic Obstacles that hindered the ECOWAS
upon its formation
o
Diversity of
currencies with complex exchange controls
o
Low levels of
intra-regional trade and intra-regional communication
o
Competition
between national economies
o
Disparity among
members (size, population, economic development)
ECOWAS has not been very
successful since it began in 1975
Liberian Civil War (1989):
The National Patriotic Front
of Liberia, NPFL, launched a small attack at the Liberian-Cote
-
Advanced towards
-
Their objective
was to overthrow the autocratic regime of President Doe
The ECOWAS convened a summit
almost immediately to consider the escalating violence in
-
Created a
Standing Mediation Committee (SMC) to foster a settlement of the conflict
o
The most powerful
Anglophone states made up the SMC
o
Francophone
states like
-
For 3 weeks in
July, 1990, the SMC and reps from all warring factions met to work out a
settlement.
o
No peaceful end
was realized
o
The SMC responded
by creating the ECOWAS Cease-Fire Monitoring Group (ECOMOG)
-
ECOMOG
o
Many ECOWAS
members were concerned about the safety of citizens and nationals
§
§
Francophone
members of the SMC (
§
o
ECOMOG was seen
by critics as an ECOWAS act to prevent the overthrow of Doe
Why did ECOWAS Embrace Regional Peacekeeping?
ECOMOG Could Have Been an Expression of
-
o
Yet Nigerian
troops committed more troops and more money than anyone else
o
Spontaneous Spillover Could Explain ECOWAS
Peacekeeping Role
-
Spontaneous
spillover consists of the inherent
functional linkage of tasks
-
The war in
-
ECOWAS made the
“natural” choice to encourage peace and to protect their institution
Cultivated Spillover Could Explain ECOWAS Peacekeeping
Role
-
Cultivated
spillover consists of the deliberate
linkage of tasks
-
ECOWAS may have entered
because they were the only option left
o
They might have
otherwise preferred intervention from
global powers
o
They may have decided to intervene for humanitarian
reasons
Regional Peacekeeping vs. Global Organizations Assigning Peacekeepers:
-
Regional actors
have a better understanding of the conflict
o
This may be a disadvantage since neutrality is usually
essential for peacekeeping
-
Regional
peacekeepers share history, culture, identity with combatants, so they possess
legitimacy
o
Common history and culture is not enough in
o
Consequently, regional peacekeepers are not neutral as
global forces might be
-
Regional actors
want stability due to geographic proximity/economic interdependence in the area
-
Regional actors
may generate greater consensus for action than would organizations like the UN
o
Incentives to create long-term peace and stability,
and to generate a consensus to act, may be confused, or possibly intertwined
with, hegemonic regional interests.
o
ECOMOG was hampered by rumors that it was a Nigerian hegemonic
power play
o
Many feared that ECOMOG was interested in what was best
for
-
Regional
peacekeepers have more suitable equipment and people for battlefield conditions
o
This equipment is often outdated and scarce
o
Often, weapons came from
o
Conclusions:
ECOWAS was mostly ineffective
ECOWAS took on the
peacekeeping role in
Eastern and Western
PSCI
4783
SUMMARY OF:
The Domestic Politics of
Institutional Survival and Dissolution
Scott Cooper and Clark Asay
All information below was borrowed from
this source in order to provide a concise summary of the reading.
Main Question:
By
looking at the evolution of the
The East African Monetary
-
Regional currency
institution made up of three countries (
o
Significant form
of regionalism because
§
Currency control
is closely linked to ideas of sovereignty and nationalism
§
National currency
is a powerful symbol of the sovereign nation-state
§
However, many
newly independent states chose not to issue their own currency
Cooper and Asay Argue That:
** Governments
maintain regional currencies only when past institutions have created a
domestic political constituency for continued regionalism.
** Governments
choose to maintain regional currencies only when history has made them politically dependent on a continuing
stream of benefits from past (colonial) regional institutions.
** Political
dependence is a function of the need
for economic revenues, military protection etc.
** Economic benefits alone are not a sufficient reason for
governments to go with regionalism. The
economic
benefits need to strengthen the political constituencies of the government.
Political Economy and Path Dependence[1] are
crucial factors in terms of regional integration
Regional Institutions in
-
Upon colonizing
the East African region in nineteenth century,
-
-
o
After
§
They at first
agreed to cooperate within their colonial currency board
§
Negotiations over
a more permanent cooperation broke down in 1965
o
Regional currency
board was dissolved, and all three issued separate national currencies.
o
1967:
§
1971: The three
countries undermined the union by imposing exchange controls
§
1977: Currency
union collapses, full exchange controls put into place
(In comparison to the
regional currency institution-building in places such as the West African
(francophone) zone, the East African monetary union had a rocky beginning and a
short life.)
Causes of the stop & go cooperation between
-
Function of the
weak commitment to regionalism by the Kenyan and Tanzanian governments
o
Neither received
enough political benefit from integration to justify the political costs
o
o
Had trouble
consolidating political power in the unstable post-independence environment
-
As a result,
regional cooperation died when national priorities outweighed regional ones
-
East African
monetary union was weaker than many other currency unions
o
It was a regional
union because the three currencies were kept at a fixed parity
§
However, each
country had its own central bank and issued its own notes
§
Allowed countries
to preserve a symbol of national independence
§
Even while
cooperating, separate central banks provided the ability to separate at any
moment, no matter how closely linked
(Overall, the three countries
had a strong preference for national autonomy over regionalism.)
Explaining Regional Monetary Cooperation:
Economic Theory
-
The most common
theoretical approach to explaining regional monetary cooperation
-
National Currency vs. Regional Currency
o
Benefits to
having a separate national currency
o
Detriments to
having a separate national currency
-
Optimum Currency Area theory: interdependent regions are likely to pursue regional
currencies.
o
OCA theory is not
a good predictor of currency cooperation beyond
§
The least
interdependent regions have high/strong levels of cooperation
§
There is a
problem of governmental uncertainty
§
Ignores domestic
political situations
Political Economy and Path Dependence
Internal Benefits of a National Currency
o
Creates a sense
of national unity and identity
o
A divided country
can be united by having a common, national
§
Political gain is
magnified if the government creates the national currency
§
It serves as a
symbol of the government’s success in achieving independence
External Benefits of a National Currency
o
An independent,
separate national currency emphasizes independence and sovereignty
Regional
currencies may have greater political appeal of a national currency
o
May provide resources
necessary for a national government to survive
o
These resources
could be of an economic nature, military nature, or otherwise
(By looking at the political
environment created by pre-independence regionalism, and inherited by
post-independence governments, continuity and change in regional currency
institutions can be explained.)
Desperate
Domestic turbulence in
Ambivalent
Regionalism could not benefit
Resentful
As
Conclusions:
Member countries’ domestic
policies at the time of independence can help us understand why some regional
institutions survive and why others collapse.
Domestic political fortunes
are the most important factor when determining whether to pursue regionalism
Economic costs and benefits
cannot explain the political patchwork pattern of choices.
Since economic cost-benefit
tradeoff is uncertain, the crucial tradeoff when deciding between a national
currency and a regional currency, is political: A government must weigh currency sovereignty
and nationalism against domestic political survival.
In all cases, the choice of
currency institutions involved economic considerations, but these
considerations were only weighed if they were beneficial politically.
The presence of earlier
regional institutions does not determine the choices of newly independent
governments. Previous regional
institutions merely ensure that regionalism is an option that is available
Path dependence is determined by the mechanism of political economy