‘With Whom We Talk?’ Drawing Regions in 21st Century Africa

Abstract

"The African continent inherited borders drawn by foreign actors for centuries, with a limited influence exerted by its internal political structures. This impacted its development across decades, acting as a contributing factor to economic, social and political conflicts, some of them resulting in further divisions in time: new states emerged, while the federal structures developed within some states remain unstable. In this paper, the author investigates the current regional groupings of states established in different African frameworks in an attempt to answer the question “how external actors influence and legitimize the development of regions” in 21st century. From a functionalist perspective, it explores the motives for the formation of a wide range of regional integration and cooperation organizations. The case study of G5 Sahel, an institutionalized regional arrangement focused on security and development of its member states, is analyzed as an arrangement emerged with support from France and the European Union. The case study analysis trails the cooperation with these two foreign actors with the G5 Sahel member states in the five years, focused on evolution, financing and joint initiatives – including to what extent these contributed to consolidation of the regional borders. Keywords: region-building, G5 Sahel, regional cooperation, European Union, development cooperation "