Regional Integration Experience in the Eastern African Region

Abstract

It is relatively easy to assess the progress, achievements, and possible future direction of an existing regional integration pact. However, evaluating the prospects for a successful revival of the East African Community (EAC), a regional integration scheme that collapsed in 1977, is arguably a more difficult task. This paper examines recent attempts to revive the EAC, especially as it concerns the harmonisation of macroeconomic policies, infrastructure services, and movement of people, goods and services. Despite the hopes of the different partner countries, it appears there are no easy solutions to the problems posed by regionalism in Eastern Africa, especially when one considers that the problems that led to the EAC’s collapse during the 1970s still exist today. Moreover, partners now have many options for multiple memberships: many East African nations are already members of COMESA, and SADC includes one East African member. The paper argues that the presence of these new ...