Regional Integration and Development in Africa

Africa has had a long history of regional integration from the early days of pan-African struggle for the liberation, independence and unity of African states and peoples, to the era of collective search for Africa's development. Regional integration, which was a pan-African strategy for decolonisation and black solidarity in Africa, turned into a tool for the collective development of African states in the face of the challenges of globalisation. Instead of contradicting it, globalisation gave renewed impetus and dimensions to regional integration as expressed in the new global wave of regionalism. Regional integration and globalisation reinforce themselves as nation-states the world over try to use their regional bodies to secure better positions and greater participation in the global political economy. This global trend threw up the challenge of how Africa's regional integration can be in consonance with the integration of the region into the global economy. But how prepared is the African Union for this challenge?