This opinion piece summarizes the PhD dissertation for Prof. Thomas Kaydor, Jr. from the Faculty of Government and European Studies, New University, Slovenia. The topic for the PhD research was ‘reconceptualizing Africa’s regional integration for peace and sustainable development’. Chapter five of the UN charter focuses on peace, and security; and Chapter VIII on regionalism. The dissertation investigated how AU utilizes its authority to mitigate conflicts on the continent. The research also evaluated whether Africa’s regional integration leads to economic growth and development in Africa. You can read a full summary of the research at https://dx.doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2024.807139.
The research has established that unless the continent engages in deeper economic integration, regionalism will not lead to regional development. It recommends how Africa might alleviate extreme poverty and attain sustainable development in the 21st Century and beyond. Its’ four specific objectives were to: a) identify the benefits and challenges of Regionalism in Africa. b) ascertain why extreme poverty is widespread in Africa and propose what should be done through regional integration to alleviate the extreme poverty in Africa. c) find out the impact of Official Development Assistance (ODA) on Africa’s regional development and propose ways to strengthen the impact of aid on poverty alleviation and economic development in Africa, and d) propose what Africa should do to Achieve Sustainable Development.
This research was Qualitative. Researchers use this method to explore meanings; investigate and study social phenomenon; or unpack meanings ascribed to activities, situations, events, or artifacts; and build a depth of understanding about some dimension of social life with detailed information from a small sample. Qualitative research is appropriate when one’s primary purpose is to explore, describe, and explain.
Chapter one provided the research background, explained the research topic, discussed the research problem, and stated the research questions. It also contained the research aims, purpose and objectives. Chapter one further discussed the research methods used to undertake the research and described the chapters of the dissertation. It discussed other research already done on this subject matter. The chapter also indicates the anticipated research results and contribution that the research made to scholarship in general and specifically to international relations theory. It finally indicates the application of the research results. Narrative and explanatory methods were used in writing this chapter. The second chapter provided the theoretical perspective of this dissertation. It evaluated additional research already conducted is in this chapter. This chapter discusses what other authors and scholars have written and published about regional integration in Africa and other parts of the world. It found the research gaps in these previous scholarly works reviewed. These pieces of research have gaps that the dissertation attempts to bridge. The methods used in this chapter were historical, exploratory, and evaluative.
Chapter 3 in the PhD dissertation constituted the Review of Related Literature. This chapter reviewed not less than 100 academic pieces of literature related regional integration in African and globally. Chapter Four is the presentation, analysis, and discussion of field data. Chapter four presents, analyses, and discusses data collected through key informant interviews at the AU Commission. As indicated earlier, the AU has a chairperson who heads the AU Commission and a Deputy Chairperson who assists the Chairperson. The Union also has six commissioners responsible for thematic areas. The six commissioners are elected by the AU Executive Council and appointed by the Assembly for a four-year term renewable once. These commissioners head thematic areas, including Technology, Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy, and Sustainable Environment; Political Affairs, Peace, and Security; Infrastructure and Energy; Economic Development, Trade, Industry and Mining; Education, Science, Technology, and Innovation; Health, Humanitarian Affairs and Social Development. The heads of the departments of women, gender and youth, and civil society and diaspora were also interviewed.
The offices of the six commissioners, two heads of the departments of women, gender and youth, and civil society and diaspora with the Vice Chair and Chairperson of the Commission were interviewed by the researcher to get their perspectives on the gains, challenges, and prospects of the AU, and gauge their insights on how the regional body could spur economic growth and sustainable development on the continent. The researcher obtained the informed consent of the 10 research participants. The interview guides used to collect the data were approved by the dissertation Supervisor or Mentor, Dr. Gorazd Justinek, for data collection. The views of the participants were tape-recorded, and thereafter transcribed. The transcribed data were placed under themes and a detailed analysis and interpretation of the data were done.
Chapter five was focused on Prospects of Africa’s attainment of sustainable development. Chapter five addressed what the Africa Union needs to do to achieve Sustainable Development in the 21st Century and beyond. In this chapter, the normative research method was utilized to indicate what should be done and why certain actions must be taken by the AU to enhance economic growth and development for the attainment of sustainable development on the continent. Chapter Six of the research was the summary, conclusion, and recommendations. It summarized and concluded the dissertation. This chapter proffered recommendations that stakeholders in and out of Africa would need to act on to achieve sustainable development on the continent. This concluding chapter of the dissertation utilized a combination of all the research methods used in all the previous chapters because it summarized all the 5 chapters and brought the research to a logical conclusion.
AS I SEE IT, for Africa to have peace and achieve sustainable development through the continent’s regional integration mechanism, the African Union (AU) needs to implement the 1991 Abuja Treaty; fully arm, equip and support the African Standby Force to make and keep peace. Africa needs a United States of Africa under one army, one border, one government, one foreign policy and one currency. The AU also needs to ensure that 80% of the Official Development Assistance (ODA) in African states goes towards infrastructural development. Africa needs to constitute an AU sovereign fund for all Africans to contribute a dollar for infrastructural development on the continent. The AU needs to manage the environment appropriately and sustainably. The AU should focus on agricultural productivity, value addition and provision of safe drinking water to address the extreme hunger, malnutrition, water issues, hunger, and poverty on the continent. Finally, the AUC needs to become a Permanent Member of the UNSC.
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