The decay and withering away of ECOWAS's role in West African Regional security
With the end of the Cold War, many countries accelerated their move towards regionalism. Although this was a common phenomenon for many Western countries such as those in the European Union (EU) and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), it was considered new for developing regions lik...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, UKM,Bangi
2014
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| Online Access: | http://journalarticle.ukm.my/7476/1/15ok.geografia-july2014-saley_etal-edam1.pdf |
| _version_ | 1825726040371101696 |
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| author | Saley Idrissa Ibrahim, Zarina Othman, Nor Azizan Idris, |
| author_facet | Saley Idrissa Ibrahim, Zarina Othman, Nor Azizan Idris, |
| author_sort | Saley Idrissa Ibrahim, |
| collection | UKM |
| description | With the end of the Cold War, many countries accelerated their move towards regionalism. Although this was a
common phenomenon for many Western countries such as those in the European Union (EU) and the North
American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), it was considered new for developing regions like those in Southeast
Asia and West Africa. Comparatively, in Asia, regional institutions like the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) has existed for almost five decades since 1967. ASEAN’s role in managing regional conflicts has been
partly praised by many, although its ‘non-interference’ principle remains debatable. Unlike ASEAN, the Economic
Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has been heavily criticized for its failure to make West Africa a
more prosperous and stable region. It has in fact decayed in its efficiency and has become more dependent in the
area of collective regional security management in the 21st Century. This trend has already started for a few years
before the end of the last millennium. Currently, ECOWAS has clearly lost its vitality compared to its active
security record of the early 1990s. Neo-realism was adopted in this study to explain the current West African
situation. The findings highlighted the contributing factors that served as strong determinants of ECOWAS
continued decline, and that gave way to extra-regional forces finding ready loopholes to encroach upon its regional
sovereignty and weaken its independent initiatives. The article provides some innovative suggestions to help
improve the institution in the long-run with the aim of contributing to a more prosperous and stable West Africa |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-06T04:04:48Z |
| format | Article |
| id | ukm.eprints-7476 |
| institution | Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-06T04:04:48Z |
| publishDate | 2014 |
| publisher | Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, UKM,Bangi |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | ukm.eprints-74762016-12-14T06:44:12Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/7476/ The decay and withering away of ECOWAS's role in West African Regional security Saley Idrissa Ibrahim, Zarina Othman, Nor Azizan Idris, With the end of the Cold War, many countries accelerated their move towards regionalism. Although this was a common phenomenon for many Western countries such as those in the European Union (EU) and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), it was considered new for developing regions like those in Southeast Asia and West Africa. Comparatively, in Asia, regional institutions like the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has existed for almost five decades since 1967. ASEAN’s role in managing regional conflicts has been partly praised by many, although its ‘non-interference’ principle remains debatable. Unlike ASEAN, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has been heavily criticized for its failure to make West Africa a more prosperous and stable region. It has in fact decayed in its efficiency and has become more dependent in the area of collective regional security management in the 21st Century. This trend has already started for a few years before the end of the last millennium. Currently, ECOWAS has clearly lost its vitality compared to its active security record of the early 1990s. Neo-realism was adopted in this study to explain the current West African situation. The findings highlighted the contributing factors that served as strong determinants of ECOWAS continued decline, and that gave way to extra-regional forces finding ready loopholes to encroach upon its regional sovereignty and weaken its independent initiatives. The article provides some innovative suggestions to help improve the institution in the long-run with the aim of contributing to a more prosperous and stable West Africa Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, UKM,Bangi 2014 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/7476/1/15ok.geografia-july2014-saley_etal-edam1.pdf Saley Idrissa Ibrahim, and Zarina Othman, and Nor Azizan Idris, (2014) The decay and withering away of ECOWAS's role in West African Regional security. Geografia : Malaysian Journal of Society and Space, 10 (3). pp. 188-200. ISSN 2180-2491 http://www.ukm.my/geografia/v2/index.php |
| spellingShingle | Saley Idrissa Ibrahim, Zarina Othman, Nor Azizan Idris, The decay and withering away of ECOWAS's role in West African Regional security |
| title | The decay and withering away of ECOWAS's role in West African
Regional security |
| title_full | The decay and withering away of ECOWAS's role in West African
Regional security |
| title_fullStr | The decay and withering away of ECOWAS's role in West African
Regional security |
| title_full_unstemmed | The decay and withering away of ECOWAS's role in West African
Regional security |
| title_short | The decay and withering away of ECOWAS's role in West African
Regional security |
| title_sort | decay and withering away of ecowas s role in west african regional security |
| url | http://journalarticle.ukm.my/7476/1/15ok.geografia-july2014-saley_etal-edam1.pdf |
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