Appraising ECOWAS Future Agenda for Fostering Democracy and Peacebuilding in West Africa

Abstract

The liberal democratic movement is a global movement that is aimed at facilitating the Western cultural hegemony. The movement has enjoyed universal approval in the post-cold war era through the proselytizing networks of international institutions such as the Bretton Woods institutions, Western universities and research institutions, exchange programmes, professional networks of scholars and the philanthropic foundations among others. These agencies have intensified the call for global, regional and sub-regional partnerships as basis for addressing new and emerging challenges facing mankind, and for the convergence of potentialities for tackling them. The aim of this paper is to examine the concept of democracy within the context of the challenges of violent conflicts and insecurity in West Africa, and review the Economic Community of West African States’ (ECOWAS) framework for fostering democracy and peacebuilding in the sub-regional. The paper identifies the challenges of the ECOWAS democracy and peacebuilding frameworks, and attempt to design a future agenda for the fostering of democracy and peacebuilding in ECOWAS by advancing through the protection of economic, social and cultural rights, prioritizing both democracy and peacebuilding, vigorous pursuit of the vision of ECOWAS of Peoples, more engaged fight against terrorism, strategic role of armed forces, media and civil society organizations (CSOs).