Civil Society Organizations and Regional Integration: The ECOWAS Perspective

Abstract

The central concern of this paper is to examine the interactions of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and Regional Integration (RI) within the context of the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS). It will seek to understand the interaction by exploring the traditional characters of CSOs as complementary and supportive agent of the state, and the character of RI as inter-state, intergovernmental, formal and official engagement. The exclusionary nature of regional integration in Africa and West Africa in particular is one of the biggest lacunae in governance and developmental processes over the years. The paper maintains that ECOWAS was conceived and sustained by a civil society arrangement and the construct “new regionalism” is only a restatement of the ideals propagated founders of the Regional Economic Community (REC) and not newness. It also maintains that the wind of democracy blowing across the world and within international institution only lends credence to the foundational philosophy of ECOWAS for equal participation and inclusivity. Indeed, the realms of civil society and regional integration provide policy makers with the opportunity to reevaluate concepts that worked in other climes before their transplantation in addressing local concerns.