Community–state relations in Africa's economic integration

Abstract

From a legal perspective, and beyond issues on the relationship among the African Economic Community (AEC), African Union (AU) and Africa's Regional Economic Communities (RECs), the approach to economic integration adopted by the AEC raises other important issues, which are yet to be addressed in practice and in the discourse on Africa's integration. These include the legal status of community institutions and law within member states’ legal systems, the effectiveness of community institutions as enforcers of community law, the role of the community courts as arbiters of conflicts between and among the constituent legal systems, and the coordination and harmonization of the laws of member states. These issues form part of the more profound and broader problem that bedevils all economic integration processes: what are, or should be, the legal relations between the economic community and the member states? Economic integration results in a juxtaposition of legal systems. These legal systems include that of the organization responsible for the integration process (community), those of the member states and regional organizations, and the international legal system, which often provides the legal basis for the integration initiative. In addition to issues of management, organization and competition, this juxtaposition of legal systems creates legal problems and raises many questions: What is the relation between community and national legal systems? What is the status of national law in the community legal system and vice versa? What are the rules for resolving conflicts of laws between and among these legal systems? Which institution is responsible for resolving such conflicts?