The European Union and the promotion of regional integration: a viable approach to the resolution of regional conflicts in Sub-Saharan Africa?

Abstract

The European Union has been seen as a new type of 'normative power', aiming at diffusing its values through its external policy. The EU influence in Sub-Saharan Africa is particularly worth noting. The EU is historically a leading partner for Africa and it presents itself to the African continent as a successful model of conflict transformation by regional integration. The European institutions have spent a considerable amount of material resources and diplomatic efforts for promoting regionalism in Africa and for encouraging the transition of African regional organizations from a security culture of 'non interference' to one of 'non indifference'. Yet, the expectation that the promotion of regional integration will contribute to the resolution of regional conflicts in Africa faces two sets of challenges. First, the historical, political and economic context of Africa may not be conducive to the success of regional cooperation as a conflict resolution strategy. Second, the effectiveness and the coherence of the EU's promotion of regional integration and regional conflict resolution in Africa are disputed. This paper presents REGIOCONF, a new collective research project aiming at investigating systematically the EU's engagement in addressing regional conflicts worldwide, particularly by promoting regional integration. In Sub-Saharan Africa, the project will address the cases of Sahel and the Great Lakes region.