Legal reception and regional economic integration in Southern Africa


Book Description

The dire African economic situation has been a perennial problem for the past six decades. Many problems emanate from slow economic growth, such as poverty and unemployment. There is a need for a collective effort to ensure economic growth, which would be the most viable solution to these problems, and the key to such a collective effort is regional economic integration (REI). This study examines REI within the legal context. It tests the proposition that the law can be used as a means to achieving REI. At the heart of this proposition lies the legal challenge that comes with the different approaches to legal reception and how they impede the realisation of REI. An analysis is performed of the theories related to legal reception, which include the monist, the dualist and the hybrid theories. REI was embraced in Europe and has yielded fruitful results. There is no doubt that the collective efforts to realise economic growth in other continents stem from the inspiration of the European example. Europe is used in this study to illustrate how the obstacles that accompany the different approaches to legal reception may be superseded. The study examines how the law was used in Europe as a means to attain REI. An attempt is then made to understand REI from an African perspective by setting out the legal framework and its shortcomings. Attention is paid to Africa’s sub-region of Southern Africa, and the study examines legal reception within Southern Africa and how the different approaches to legal reception within the two RECs, the SADC and COMESA, impact upon the realisation of REI. It seeks to evaluate the possibility that the African continent, particularly Southern Africa, may be able to use the law to attain REI. A further analysis is made by examining South Africa's approach to legal reception and how this impacts on the realisation of REI.




Explaining Foreign Policy in Post-Colonial Africa


Book Description

This book explores foreign policy developments in post-colonial Africa. A continental foreign policy is a tenuous proposition, yet new African states emerged out of armed resistance and advocacy from regional allies such as the Bandung Conference and the League of Arab States. Ghana was the first Sub-Saharan African country to gain independence in 1957. Fourteen more countries gained independence in 1960 alone, and by May 1963, when the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) was formed, 30 countries were independent. An early OAU committee was the African Liberation Committee (ALC), tasked to work in the Frontline States (FLS) to support independence in Southern Africa. Pan-Africanists, in alliance with Brazzaville, Casablanca and Monrovia groups, approached continental unity differently, and regionalism continued to be a major feature. Africa’s challenges were often magnified by the capitalist-democratic versus communist-socialist bloc rivalry, but through Africa’s use and leveraging of IGOs – the UN, UNDP, UNECA, GATT, NIEO and others – to advance development, the formation of the African Economic Community, OAU’s evolution into the AU and other alliances belied collective actions, even as Africa implemented decisions that required cooperation: uti possidetis (maintaining colonial borders), containing secession, intra- and inter-state conflicts, rebellions and building RECs and a united Africa as envisioned by Pan Africanists worked better collectively.




Intellectual Property Policy, Law and Administration in Africa


Book Description

This book examines the harmonisation of Intellectual Property (IP) policy, law and administration in Africa. Two recent developments have brought this topic to the fore. The first is the escalation of long-standing efforts to establish a Pan-African Intellectual Property Organisation (PAIPO), a continental initiative. The second is the current sub-regional attempt to operationalise the IP provisions of the Southern African Development Community (SADC)’s Protocol on Trade (articles 9b and 24) and its Protocol on Science, Technology and Innovation (article 2m). Intellectual Property Policy, Law and Administration in Africa discusses the viability of such initiatives with particular reference to the current socio-economic status of Africa’s nations. With a view to contributing to future developments in Africa at both a continental and sub-regional level, the author considers this issue through the lens of advancing the public interest in IP. Ncube argues that harmonisation initiatives ought to be crafted in a way that is supportive of the development aspirations of African states. Consequently, she urges due consideration of individual states’ unique conditions and aspirations in any harmonisation venture, a necessity outlined in article 7 of the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. This book will be of great relevance to scholars and policy makers with an interest in IP law and African law in general.




Legal Aspects of Economic Integration in Africa


Book Description

Richard Frimpong Oppong challenges the view that effective economic integration in Africa is hindered by purely socio-economic, political and infrastructural problems. Inspired by the comparative experiences of other regional economic communities and imbued with insights from constitutional, public and private international law, he argues that even if the socio-economic, political and infrastructural challenges were to disappear, the state of existing laws would hinder any progress. Using a relational framework as the fulcrum of analyses, he demonstrates that in Africa's economic integration processes, community-state, inter-state and inter-community legal relations have neither been carefully thought through nor situated on a solid legal framework, and that attempts made to provide legal framework have been incomplete and, sometimes, grounded on questionable assumptions. To overcome these problems and aid the economic integration agenda that is essential for Africa's long-term economic growth and development, the author proposes radical reforms to community and national laws.




International Telecommunications Law and Policy


Book Description

Since the revolution in modern telecommunications that followed the invention of the telegraph, telecommunication networks have provided channels for the fast delivery of communications across national borders. This transnational nature of telecommunication networks have led to the establishment of international regulatory regimes on the subject. On the other hand, developing countries consider regional economic integration as a major strategy for promoting trade and development, telecommunications have been seen within this context as a strategic tool for facilitating regional economic integration. This has also led to the establishment of regional telecommunication regulatory regimes that aim to promote regional integration and regulatory harmonization. This book discusses telecommunication regimes established by international and regional organizations such as the United Nations, the International Telecommunication Union, the World Trade Organization, the African Union, the Economic Community of West African States, and the Southern African Development Community, among a number of others. It will be relevant to policy makers, regulators, lawyers, law students, investors and telecommunication operators, as well as any person interested in international and African regional telecommunication regimes.







Regional Developmentalism through Law


Book Description

Offering a study of regionalism in Africa and investigating the ways in which law can be used to address the issues raised by regional processes on the continent, this book examines the African Economic Community, considering that it has been entrusted to coordinate and to harmonize policies between various Regional Economic Communities (RECs) across the continent, thereby influencing the continent’s approach towards regional integration. It seeks to identify how law can be used to strengthen the African RECs while ensuring that they achieve their goal of promoting regional development across the continent. Drawing upon economic and political theories, and using a critical doctrinal analysis of legal texts and norms, the book uncovers the legal and economic underpinnings of the model of regional integration followed by the regional schemes operating under the banner of the AEC, aiming to contribute to the search for effective methods to ensure the success of these various initiatives. Proposing the concept of "Regional Developmentalism Through Law" as the most suitable conceptual framework to support the effective establishment of an African Economic Community, this book will be of interest to researchers, academics and policy makers interested in the correlation between law, regional integration and development in Africa.




Constructing the East African Community


Book Description

This book provides a systematic analysis of the establishment and decision-making processes concerning the institutional design of the East African Community (EAC) throughout the 1990s and discusses to what extent these were impacted and inspired by other regional organizations from Africa and Europe. Analysing the decision-making processes that led to the set-up of the EAC, the book explores the extent to which they were impacted by several other regional organizations, namely the Organization of African Unity (OAU), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the European Union (EU), and the first EAC. The findings indicate that the relevant east African state and non-state actors adopted substantial aspects from the first EAC, the EU, and the COMESA and adapted them to set up the current EAC. This book demonstrates that the perception of other regional organizations and their institutional design considerably effected the construction of the EAC; here, its own past provided crucial learning objectives, which challenges the notion of mimicry or replica regional organizations of the EU in the Global South. This work will be of particular interest to scholars and students of regional and international organizations, international relations, multilevel governance approaches as well as diffusion literature.




European Yearbook of International Economic Law 2011


Book Description

Part one of Vol. 2 (2011) of the European Yearbook of International Economic Law adresses two major topics of current academic debate and public interest: firstly, it focuses on the State and the Global Economy, secondly, on Climate Change and International Economic Law. Part two contains treatises of recent regional integration developments taking place in the major regions of the world. Part three covers the legal and political developments in the major international organizations and fora dealing with international economic policy making. Part four contains book reviews of recent works in the field of International Economic Law.