The project deals with the lessons of European integration for African attempts to regionally integrate further. The focus will be laid upon the procedural aspects rather than on outcomes of the processes. The analysis will commence against the backdrop of the current state of economic integration within Africa as well as the current state of the politico-economic discussion of the further integration path. Several strands shall be inquired.
- Different historical backgrounds and motivations of the respective two continents for regional economic integration and their regional integration attempts will be compared.
- Building on this comparison, next we inquire the institutional capacities of African countries to integrate the continent further (depths and width).
- A number of further questions (that are methodologically essentially positive) are important to answer with a view to exploring the prospects for and nature of further African economic integration.
- The project subsequently proceeds by drawing the lessons from European integration for African integration efforts, be they regionally restricted or aiming at the entire continent.
We do not intend to give policy proposals for detailed or different integration steps. Rather we are exclusively concentrating on the institutional and procedural lessons which the EU experience holds for Africa.
