Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/267545 
Year of Publication: 
2021
Citation: 
[Journal:] Journal of African Trade [ISSN:] 2214-8523 [Volume:] 8 [Issue:] 1 [Publisher:] Atlantis Press [Place:] Paris [Year:] 2021 [Pages:] 82-95
Publisher: 
Atlantis Press, Paris
Abstract: 
Regional integration occupies a prominent place in the economic policies of most sub-Saharan African countries. However, despite different waves of initiatives across the African continent, the majority of African regional schemes have not managed to achieve their ambitious goal of promoting sustainable development through trade integration in Africa. In light of this observation and using the West African cocoa-chocolate sector as a case study, we propose the regional developmentalism paradigm as an alternative approach to regionalism in Africa. Regional developmentalism places a particular emphasis on the use of regional and subregional approaches to development. Instead of full-fledged trade liberalization and indiscriminate economic integration, the regional developmentalism paradigm advocates for state-led trade facilitation, regulatory convergence, and capacity-building by adopting policies directed at strategic sectors. We evaluate the potential of the regional developmentalism paradigm to promote economic transformation and commodity-based industrialization against the shortcomings of the current regional integration approach embodied in the institutional framework of the Economic Community of West African States.
Subjects: 
Cocoa
development
developmental state
ECOWAS
industrialization
regional integration
West Africa
JEL: 
F02
F13
K33
O13
O24
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by-nc Logo
Document Type: 
Article
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