African, Caribbean And Pacific Research Articles

The inadequacy of copyright-related provisions in economic partnership agreements between the European Union and the African, Caribbean and Pacific regional groups from an educational perspective

In 2000, the European Union (EU) undertook to enter into economic partnership agreements (EPAs) with the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) regional groups with the intention of promoting development by implementing tariff-free trade structures with ACP states. A number of these agreements, once entered into, contained provisions regarding intellectual property rights and technology transfer. However, the provisions in these agreements regarding intellectual property protection and enforcement appeared to oblige contracting states to follow the directives as espoused in pre-existing intellectual property agreements. This contribution argues that those agreements do not adequately address educational concerns in developing ACP states, and that, if the EU is concerned about the long-term development of ACP states and regional groups, it should take adequate steps to facilitate knowledge transfer on an equitable basis through copyright mechanisms.

Transnational Corporate Power: From Lomé to the CARIFORUM-EU EPA

The post-Lomé era, from the turn of the twenty-first century, marks a shift from an epoch of non-reciprocal preferential trade under successive Lomé Conventions to one of reciprocal trade within a free trade area under a neoliberal international economic order. Post-Lomé thus constitutes a new age in the relationship between the European Union (EU) and African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states. In this context, there are several factors that distinguish the Lomé period of preferences from twenty-first century agreements between the EU and ACP states, and which have influenced this development in the Europe-ACP relationship. This article focuses on the influence of one particular factor on the evolution of relations between Western Europe and ACP states that is often overlooked or undertheorized in the predominantly state-centric analyses of same. It therefore investigates and demonstrates the connection between transnational corporate interests and the dramatic shift to the post-Lomé framework for engagement between the EU and ACP states, as well as the progressive neoliberalization of Lomé era agreements even before the dramatic shift in this relationship. The study establishes that the agenda for and outcome of negotiations on the Cotonou Agreement of 2000 largely reflects transnational corporate interests, and that the CARIFORUM-EU EPA of 2008 is also consistent with the pattern of their neoliberal pursuits.

Содействие развитию или управление миграцией? (Анализ европейского подхода)

The main purpose of the research is to identify the achievements and failures of the European Communi-ties/European Union development policies in terms of countering unwanted migration from third countries to Europe. European development policy started in the 1950–1960s due to the colonial past of many European states which felt responsibility for their ex-colonies. Common development policy was based at first on the values, but later transformed to serve the European geopolitical interests. Therefore, the European development policy changed from providing unilateral preferences and gratuitous help to making any aid conditional on the partner’s ability to meet the EU requirements. Thus, the responsibility for development was gradually moved from Europe to the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states. In the 2000s, the need to prevent massive immigration making it more manageable became one of the regular EU interests. Therefore, the European Union launched the external dimension of its migration policy that was aimed at making development work for migration prevention. This trend contributed to the EU development policy reorientation from the poorest states to the nearest ones. Although the EU development policy was transformed, it failed to meet most of its aims. The main failures were the expectation to limit immigration in the short-term and overestimation of the Union’s normative power. Because of both Brussels’ inability to ensure development globally and the widening gap in the welfare between the ACP states and Europe, the immigration to the EU is unlikely to drop until 2060s.

Home Field Advantage? EU–ACP Economic Partnership Agreement Meeting Locations and Textual Tone

AbstractThe European Union's Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with countries in the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group are touted as a new form of equitable engagement. However, many argue that the EPAs simply substitute a different form of political and economic domination. In this paper, we consider if the siting of meetings has a substantive impact on EPA outcomes or media reporting thereof. Using a difference‐in‐difference like approach we evaluate if the tone and polarity of media reports about the EPAs during periods of ‘home’ meetings in the ACP countries differs from media reports during ‘away’ meetings in the EU. Using two different datasets we arrive at differing results, leading to inconclusive overall findings. While we suspect that the alternating meeting site norm has implications for EPA process and outcomes, further research will be needed to uncover the precise nature of these effects.

There is life beyond the European Union: revisiting the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States

The African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group, established in June 1975 by the Georgetown Agreement, was generally seen as an emanation of the European Union (EU). This article presents a non-EU-centric perspective by discussing various initiatives aimed at fostering intra-ACP cooperation and promoting common ACP positions in international settings. Furthermore, it analyses various threats to the survival of the ACP Group, some linked to its allegedly ineffective performance as an organisation, others related to the rise of competitors, most notably the African Union. Importantly, it delves into the reform process that culminated in the adoption of the revised Georgetown Agreement in December 2019, which transformed the ACP Group into the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS), with the aim of establishing it as a relevant and influential global actor and reducing its dependence on the EU. In revisiting the evolution of the OACPS, this article identifies an intentions–capability gap, specifically between the often grandiose statements of official discourse and the institutional and financial resources devoted to implementing stated objectives.

Common and intersecting interests: EU-Caribbean relations and the post-Cotonou EU-ACP partnership

ABSTRACT The expiration of the Cotonou Agreement in February 2020 paved the way to a comprehensive review of the longstanding partnership between the European Union (EU) and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States. Following an intense and contentious preparatory process, the EU’s proposal for an unprecedented cooperation framework, consisting of a general part and three regional pillars, was reluctantly accepted by the ACP Group. Official talks started in September 2018, but proceeded slower than expected, with delays attributable to organisational issues rather than the substance of negotiations, yet some divergences still emerged. This article investigates dynamics within and between the EU and the ACP Group, but concentrates on EU-Caribbean relations. In particular, it points to the interplay of common and intersecting interests, the former in relation to the promotion of multilateralism, citizen security, and environmental sustainability, the later with regard to economic development and financial governance. Nevertheless, on the basis of the negotiations for a post-Cotonou Agreement, it concludes that any claims that the two sides are drifting away are unwarranted and in fact their partnership – in spite of various external threats and some uncertainties on how to frame it – appears solid.

A New Scramble for EurAfrica?

The British referendum on continued EU membership in 2016 was infused with Brexiteer discourse relating to a fairer UK relationship with African countries inside the Commonwealth. Prominent campaigners including Boris Johnson and Daniel Hannan regularly spoke of the EU’s mercantilist trade and aid policies in sub-Saharan Africa as a means to underscore the supranational project’s unsavoury relationship with Anglophone developing countries. Brexit, it was claimed, would usher in a new era whereby the UK Department for International Development (DFID) - and a resurgent UK Department for International Trade (DFIT) - would have the opportunity to offer humanitarian aid and free trade unencumbered by the cynicism of the European Commission. Recent policy papers from both DFID and DFIT, however, have made clear that the UK intends to replicate the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) under negotiation between the European Commission and sub-regions of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) bloc. This is despite Brexiteer discourse about the EPAs’ apparent pitfalls relating to non-tariff barriers and the import-flooding of African markets. Perhaps more worryingly, meanwhile, DFID and DFIT publications highlight the need for UK Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) – notably the CDC Group – to robustly compete with their EU counterparts, to gain better market share for UK businesses within emerging African markets. In this context, the article argues that Brexit will intensify a ‘new scramble for Africa’ and highlights emerging challenges for European development cooperation vis-à-vis normative pledges to sustainable development. Additionally, it considers possible African responses via reflection on the writings of Kwame Nkrumah regarding ‘neo-colonialism’.

African Agency and EU-ACP Relations beyond the Cotonou Agreement

With the Cotonou Agreement due to expire in 2020, formal negotiations towards a new partnership agreement between the EU and African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states began in September 2018. Based on the acceptance of the EU’s negotiating mandate, the new arrangement will be primarily organised via three specific regional protocols with each of the ACP regions. Meanwhile, the Joint Africa-EU Strategy (JAES) launched in 2007, has seen the African Union (AU) gain increased prominence as an institutional partner of the EU. Given its ambitious pan-African agenda, it adopted an alternative ‘African’ vision for future EU-ACP relations, to the mandate agreed by the ACP states and expressed a willingness to become directly involved in the negotiations. This article contributes an important new case-study to the existing literature on ‘African agency’ in international politics by considering the scope for Africa to exert agency within the post-Cotonou negotiations, given the negotiation of a specific regional compact with Africa. It adopts a structurally embedded view of agency, based on Cox’s understanding of historical structures, as a fit between institutions, ideas and material relations. The central argument is that, in comparison to the negotiation of the Cotonou Agreement two decades ago, there is greater scope for African agency. However, both the ideational and material aspects of Africa’s relationship with the EU, condition the limits to how effective such agency might be. Moreover, tensions at the institutional level between the ACP and AU further undermine the potential for effective African agency.

Home Field Advantage? EU-ACP Economic Partnership Agreement Meeting Locations and Textual Tone

The European Union’s Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with countries in the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group are touted as a new age of equitable partnership between European countries and former colonies. However, many critics argue that the EPAs simply substitute a different form of political and economic domination. In this paper, we consider if the siting of meetings has a substantive impact on the language of media describing the EPAs and/or communiques and statements that arise from those discussions. Using data culled from the Global Database of Events, Language and Tone (GDELT) via Google’s BigQuery, we use a difference-in-difference like approach to evaluate if the tone and polarity of media reports about the EPAs during periods of ‘home’ meetings in the ACP countries differs from media reports during ‘away’ meetings in the EU. We supplement these findings with analysis of joint statements released from a subset of EPA meetings. In general, we find that ACP countries’ tone and interests are better represented in media reports during ‘home’ meetings, but this may not translate to any meaningful difference in actual meeting outcomes. As such, meeting siting may be only a limited tool for reducing political domination.

Brexit and its Consequences: The Termination and Renegotiation of EU-ACP Economic Partnership Agreements Due to (Fundamental) Change of Circumstances

The United Kingdom officially left the European Union (EU) in January 2020. While the nature of its future relations with the rest of the EU Members is unclear, it is by now certain that the UK will cease to be part of several agreements concluded by the EU in the areas common commercial policy. This is the case for Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) concluded between the EU and its Members with African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries. This paper studies the consequences of Brexit on these EPAs. It explores whether, and to what extent, ACP countries may invoke fundamental change of circumstances to seek termination of their respective EPAs because Brexit was an event that they could not have contemplated when negotiating these agreements. Likewise, could the threat of termination provide any leverage to ACP countries to induce renegotiation of the terms of EPAs considering frustration of their legitimate expectations?

EU-ACP Economic Partnership Agreements: Taking Them Forward

This article aims at looking at the current state of play of the EU-ACP Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) and explore the best way in which they can be taken forward. In this regard the article will try to evaluate the EPAs in a collective fashion, first by looking at their present state of play and then by evaluating the best options for the future. Further to the latter element, the article will note that the options should come in the form of three actions, namely: (1) implementing the current agreements better; (2) widening their membership; and (3) deepening them from a subject matter perspective. At the end the article will also briefly note a main flanking measure that would need to be pursued in tandem with these three actions. This measure would constitute helping African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries develop their productive capabilities so that they can exploit the opportunities that the EPAs offer and will offer in the future. The article will then try to draw a number of conclusions for a way forward. EPA, ACP, EU, development, Africa, Caribbean, Pacific, economic, partnership, agreement

West Africa’s cocoa sector and development within Africa-EU relations: engaging business perspectives

The EU is vigorously pursuing Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) in its trade and aid relations with African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries. Justifying the EPAs as being ‘development friendly’, EU officials promise that aid support to private sector development (PSD) in ACP countries will make free trade systems ‘win–win’. This article, based on the authors’ semi-structured interviews conducted in Ghana and Nigeria, examines the perspectives of cocoa stakeholders vis-à-vis EPAs and PSD. Applying critical discourse analysis to interview transcripts, it underscores areas of overlap and, crucially, divergence among cocoa stakeholders’ own narratives on PSD support in the context of EPAs and the official legitimating discourse of EU institutions. In the process, the article draws critical attention to cocoa business interviewees’ concerns regarding the impact of premature trade liberalisation. It also underscores cocoa stakeholders’ concerns that EU PSD promises are not being fulfilled in terms of actual tangible benefits for business people in this vital ACP export sector. Accordingly, the article contributes to, and corroborates, an existing critical scholarly literature which problematises the strategic functions of donor PSD discourse in presenting free trade reforms as being ‘pro-poor’ in the post-Washington Consensus.

A gravity approach of agricultural trade: The nexus of the EU and African, Caribbean and Pacific countries

The European Union (EU) is one of the biggest traders of agricultural products. In 2017, extra-EU agricultural trade accounted for 7.4% of the total EU international trade. Furthermore, Europe is the main destination for agricultural goods arriving from African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) trading partners. The paper analyses the effect of geographical proximity, cultural similarity, free trade agreements on bilateral agricultural trade as well as intra-industry trade between EU member states and its trading partners (intra and extra EU trade), employing gravity model for a period of 1996–2017. Regression results suggest that EU countries export more agricultural products to their common markets. In addition, the export costs of agricultural products are lower if the EU and its external trading partners are culturally similar; have the same religion or both have regional trade agreements. We found a moderate intra-industry trade between the EU and ACP countries at 18%. The results indicate rather inter-industry trade between EU and non-EU members, with a lower index level for ACP countries. A higher positive impact is revealed on the agricultural import between ACP-EU countries than export.

The Impact of Brexit on EU Development Policy

Brexit is likely to herald fundamental changes in the operation, scope and practice of EU development policy, due to the UK’s key role in leading and defining the geographical and sectoral remit of policy, and through its provision of large-scale funding. Through a focus on the EU’s relations with the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States, this article explores these potential impacts. It highlights the importance of the timing of Brexit in relation to the contemporaneous renegotiation of EU–ACP relations and the EU’s Multiannual Financial Framework and argues that the focus on static impacts of Brexit, in terms of removing the UK from the ‘EU equation’, overlooks the broader dynamics of political economy in which it is situated. Through the analysis of the anticipatory adjustments and discursive dynamics in EU development policy that articulate the pursuit of material interests, the article helps understand both the dynamics of Brexit and the broader transformations in which it is located.

Delivering on Promises? The Expected Impacts and Implementation Challenges of the Economic Partnership Agreements between the European Union and Africa

AbstractEconomic partnership agreements (EPAs) mark a new era in economic relations between the European Union and African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries that will lead to reciprocal tariff liberalization. Model‐based impact assessments have become a powerful tool in trade negotiations and mixed results are reported for ACP countries. Given their set‐up within a neoclassical framework, these models neglect important issues such as impacts on employment, macroeconomic balances and adjustment costs. The structuralist computable general equilibrium model applied in this article for three African EPA regions addresses these shortcomings and shows negative macroeconomic and distributional effects and important adjustment costs associated with employment and public revenue losses. These results highlight the importance of policy responses to deliver on promises associated with EPAs, namely sustainable economic development. More generally, they show the importance of alternative models to understand implementation challenges and facilitate broader debates about bilateral trade agreements.

Actorness and trade negotiating outcomes: West Africa and the SADC Group in negotiations for Economic Partnership Agreements

In 2014, the EU concluded Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with several African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) regions. These EPAs represent some of the most advanced examples of interregional cooperation. Yet, the outcomes of EPA negotiations are not the same across all regions. This article investigates differences in negotiated outcomes and argues that regional actorness – the ability of regions to become identifiable, to aggregate the interests of member states, to formulate collective goals and to make and implement decisions – influences regions’ ability to navigate interregional trade negotiations. In a comparison of the actorness and negotiated outcomes of West Africa and the SADC EPA Group, the article shows that actorness matters for international negotiations: regions with higher levels of actorness can negotiate better outcomes even under conditions of stark power asymmetry.

Examining the Role of BATNA in Explaining EPA Negotiation Outcomes

The European Union has been negotiating regional Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with 79 African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States since 2002 with different outcomes. For instance, while the negotiation with the Caribbean Forum concluded as envisaged in 2007, those with the Economic Community of West African States and other ACP countries have extended for nearly a decade after the initial deadline. This study discusses the rationale behind these different outcomes. The study concludes that for the European Union to have effective trade negotiations with the ACP countries, it needs to look beyond its market size attraction and policy to promote the idea of free trade. Moreover, it should analyse alternative trade options available to those regions and develop appropriate negotiation positions and strategies.

Trade Impacts of EU-ESA EPA Transitional Period On Malawi Sugar Exports

The renunciation of the Sugar Protocol between European Union (EU) and African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries in 2007 initiated a gradual reform process that will culminate into a reciprocal Duty Free Quota Free non-preferential access for all sugar producers in 2017. This paper analyzes how the reforms implemented this far have affected Malawi sugar exports. Since expansion of regional trade is seen as one of the adaptation measures for affected sugar industries. The study also analyzed the effect of regional integration areas. The results show that the EU sugar price reforms and elimination of country specific quotas had a positive influence of exports. Malawi being a low cost producer, it was not affected by falling prices and benefited to expanded access granted by a group safeguard. However, the production quotas for EU producers and high tariffs nonpreferred producers meant that Malawi was still shielded from competition that will prevail when the EU market is fully liberalized.

The European Union and UN Millennium Development Goals in Nigeria: A Study of the Micro Projects Programmes (MPPs) in the Niger Delta Region

The present Cotonou Accord was signed by the EU, 77, African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries towards halving poverty as prescribed by the UN Declaration by 2015. The EU's interventionin the rural communities of the oil producing states of Nigeria (Niger Delta) clearly shows her commitment towards the above stated global drive for the eradication of poverty especially in the Third World. Bringing about the establishment of the Micro ProjectProgrammes (MPP3, MPP6 and MPP9) for the nine states of the region between 1999 and 2012 and expended over €210 million on the programmes. Four years after theimplementation of the programmes, arising questions include: to what extent did the EU-MPPs achieve the set goals of poverty reduction in the region? And how sustainable are the achievements of the programmes? Using ex post facto research design, it was found out that amidst numerous challenges the MPPs actually reduced the level of poverty in the region through the provision of over 20,000 micro projects to more than 4000 rural communities in the nine states it covered. It therefore recommended that similar programmes be initiated by all other international development agencies as to speed up the reduction of poverty in the UN targeted areas though behind the originally target period of 2015. The study contends that an effective administrative institutional framework of the EU- MPPs should serve as model to other development agencies not only in Nigeria but across the developing economies of the world.

Brexit, Development Aid, and the Commonwealth

Development cooperation between the European Union (EU) and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group of states has provided a vehicle for the UK’s ongoing relationship with the majority of the Commonwealth, although this was widely overlooked in the run-up to the UK referendum and its aftermath. Membership of the EU has provided the UK with the opportunity to collectivise its obligations to ACP Commonwealth states and a framework for its development cooperation relations across the Global South. This has augmented British leadership in global development and the alignment of development policy and practice at the global, regional and national levels. This paper argues that withdrawal from the EU would be a lengthy and costly process that threatens to undermine the UK’s position in global development, current levels and sources of development funding and existing and nascent trade relations. While this will present particular challenges for ACP Commonwealth states, there may also be opportunities to propose and advocate for alternative frameworks. However, recent changes to the UK’s post-referendum political leadership does not augur well for those hoping for a roll back of pressures for liberalisation and associated reforms.