Introduction to the special issue on international organisations in Africa

Abstract

The unity of Africa has long been the dominant ideological underpinning for the creation of international organisations (IOs) in Africa. But how successful have IOs been in providing the continent with a coherent and coordinated political, economic and social agenda addressing Africa’s most urgent needs, and the mechanisms to effect that agenda? Without question, the African continent has produced one of the world’s most dense system of regional governance, its leaders setting up more than a dozen regional economic communities (RECs) over the past several years, as well as the African Union (AU). Many of these RECs, however, overlap in membership and policy aims; consequently, a system of shared and competing competencies has emerged. In addition, as African IOs are generally not self-sustainable and depend upon external (mostly non-African) donors, they are integrated into and need to interact with global organisations and other regional organisations. The United Nations (UN), the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the European Union (EU) are some prominent examples. What are the implications of this network of IO’s for Africa and her peoples? And for theory building in the field of IO interplay? The most progressive institutional development in Africa was the revamping of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in the early years of the new millennium. African leaders agreed relatively quickly on the Constitutive Act of the AU, which explicitly denounces unconstitutional changes of government and actively promotes ideas such as the ‘responsibility to protect’ or R2P. While the OAU had nurtured a culture of impunity, often turning a blind eye to severe human rights violations on the continent and to the notorious dictators perpetrating these acts, the AU has been designed as a project to promote a culture of non-indifference. Considering the serious human, economic, social and political challenges confronting Africa, whose nations often occupy the lowest positions in global state performance ratings such as the World Bank’s Good Governance Indicators or Foreign Policy’s Failed States Index, it is noteworthy that Africa has had the institutional capacity to produce such a high density of IOs. This is despite the fact that many African states have tended to produce weak and unstable political systems.