Abstract
The idea of “West Africa” encompasses a medley of countries with diverse historical, political, and cultural features. However, their governance and development profiles are distinctly similar: the United Nations recognizes eleven of the fifteen members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) as least developed countries. In this context, regional institutions are usually established to strengthen state capacity by providing resources to address national capacity deficits. Above all, they serve as systems of support that are supplementary to state institutions with distinct governance roles. However, regional institutions can—and should—play a second role: serving as alternatives to weak or fragile state institutions that are deficient in the supply of different public goods. By performing this second role, regional arrangements become international institutional bypasses.
Highlights
The idea of “West Africa” encompasses a medley of countries with diverse historical, political, and cultural features
This essay discusses how regional institutions in West Africa operate as bypasses, because of the fragility of national institutions
Institutional development must be targeted at enhancing the bypass role of these institutions so that they can better address the governance challenges of their member states
Summary
The idea of “West Africa” encompasses a medley of countries with diverse historical, political, and cultural features Their governance and development profiles are distinctly similar: the United Nations recognizes eleven of the fifteen members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) as least developed countries. In this context, regional institutions are usually established to strengthen state capacity by providing resources to address national capacity deficits. Regional institutions can—and should—play a second role: serving as alternatives to weak or fragile state institutions that are deficient in the supply of different public goods. This enhanced role, raises important questions about legitimacy and sovereignty that have not been addressed in the framing essay
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