Economic Integration in Africa
The East African Community in Comparative Perspective

This book offers an in-depth analysis of economic integration in Africa with a focus on the East African Community (EAC).

Richard E. Mshomba (Author)

9781107186262, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 12 October 2017

268 pages
23.5 x 15.7 x 1.6 cm, 0.55 kg

'Professor Richard E. Mshomba has produced an outstanding study that should be of utmost value to a wide variety of scholars, students, and policy practitioners. In cogent and compelling language, he has clarified the economic challenges and opportunities of regional economic federations; he has brought us a compelling history of the efforts to achieve regional economic integration in Eastern Africa. His analysis and conclusions will be of interest to scholars of economic integration throughout the developing world.' Michael F. Lofchie, University of California, Los Angeles

In this work, Richard E. Mshomba offers an in-depth analysis of economic integration in Africa with a focus on the East African Community (EAC), arguably the most ambitious of all the regional economic blocs currently in existence in Africa. Economic Integration in Africa provides more than just an overview of regional economic blocs in Africa; it also offers a rich historical discussion on the birth and death of the first EAC starting with the onset of colonialism in the 1890s, and a systematic analysis of the birth, growth, and aspirations of the current EAC. Those objectives include forming a monetary union and eventually an East African political federation. This book also examines the African Union's aspirations for continent-wide integration as envisioned by the Abuja Treaty. Mshomba carefully argues that maturity of democracy and good governance in each country are prerequisites for the formation of a viable and sustainable East African federation and genuine continent-wide integration.

1. Introduction
2. Regional economic integration in Africa
3. The colonial background of the former East African community
4. The rise and fall of the former East African Community
5. The birth and growth of the current East African Community: the Customs Union
6. The common market
7. The road to monetary union
8. Aspirations for an East African political federation
9. Aspirations for continent-wide integration
10. Conclusion
Bibliography.

Subject Areas: Development economics & emerging economies [KCM], International trade [KCLT], International economics [KCL], Economics [KC]