Political drivers of Africa’s regional economic integration Lessons from the Maputo and North-South Corridors1 (original) (raw)

There is long-standing, wide consensus on the need for greater economic connectedness in Africa. Despite the rhetoric and apparent policy consensus, implementation of related commitments lags seriously. The lack of progress towards the free movement between national markets of goods, services, people and capital is frequently blamed on a combination of lack of political will and lack of capacity. Yet, it is necessary to better understand what these twin deficiencies actually entail. This paper takes a politicaleconomy approach to regional integration to try and understand progress on regional economic integration. Building on the existing and wide literature examining the political economy of development at a national level, and the somewhat more limited literature on the political economy of regional integration, the paper defines five lenses through which we can better understand the progress or not of regional integration processes: structural factors, formal and informal institu...