The African Union (AU), new partnership for African Aevelopment (NEPAD) and regional integration in Africa in a multipolar word

Abstract

It is trite to argue that regional integration or cooperation in Africa is deeply rooted in the historical evolution of the continent’s socio-political forces. No doubt, the trans-Atlantic slave trade created a huge social, political, economic, and cultural distortion in Africa. It was a period when millions of productive Africans were forcefully uprooted from the continent and taken to Europe and the Americas. However, the end of the slave trade opened a new vista in the efforts of people of the continent, scattered across Europe and America, to rediscover their identity and consciousness. A new wave of in-gathering by these Diasporic Africans suddenly awakened in them. This new awakening signposted the emergence of Pan-Africanism, which McCarthy (1995:14), describes as an expression of continental identity and coherence. Pan-Africanism would from this point drive the continent’s nationalist agitations and decolonization processes and also the urge for closer cooperation and integration. This desire by the Africans for integration or cooperation has always had a strong political motive. This strong political motive is consequent upon the philosophy of Pan-Africanism.