This book analyzes the development of indigenous religious, commercial, and political institutions among the Oromo mainly during the relatively peaceful two centuries in its history, from 1704 to 1882. The largest ethnic group in East Africa, the Oromo promoted peace, cultural assimilation, and ethnic integration.

This book brings together African and European experts from a variety of disciplines to examine the origins and current state of the East African Community (EAC). Over the course of the book, the authors analyse the rich tapestry of intraregional relations in East Africa, the EAC’s similarities with the European Union and the future challenges faced by the organisation. Widely regarded as the most advanced and successful regional integration scheme in Africa, the EAC is an intergovernmental organisation consisting of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda and, since 2016, South Sudan. It is the oldest among Africa’s regional economic communities, and among the continent’s most promising growth areas, with a long history of integration, punctuated by several false starts and traumas that have profoundly affected its body politics. When initially set up, the EAC model bore a striking resemblance to the process undergone by the European Union. Now, as the EAC continues to establish its own identity, this book argues that whilst Europe’s history may provide useful insights for EAC member states, the EAC experience could in turn also offer lessons for the European Union. Covering key dimensions such as integration, co-operation, development, trade and investments, this book highlights the intricate and complex relationships between East African states, and it will be of interest to researchers working on economic development, international relations, peace and security and African studies.

This book presents a comprehensive analysis of regional integration in East Africa in the last century, reflecting the general trends of integration processes in the East Africa sub-region with a focus on the East African Community. Particular attention is paid to the cyclicality of integration dynamics, as well as the analysis of the interconnection and competition between different regional organizations in East Africa. In this context, the specificity of the so-called overlapping membership of African states in regional organizations with similar roles but conflicting treaties and mandates is explored. This situation to a certain extent affects the relations of states in the region with external actors specifically trade negotiations with EU that the book comprehensively analyses. This book therefore offers a deeper understanding of the processes of regional integration in East Africa that had been missed before, which reflects the general integration dynamics on the African continent.

This book analyses and assesses the Agadir Agreement’s impact on economic integration, its effect on political cooperation, and its role in promoting peace between participating countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Since the ‘Arab Spring’ of 2011, the geo-political situation in MENA has further drifted towards instability and uncertainty. Expert analysis of the region seems to lurch from one crisis to another without moving beyond a focus on conflict. Few scholars have recognised that the MENA governments have long regarded regional economic integration as a chief policy objective to facilitate intra-regional trade and promote political cooperation and peace. Realising the shortcomings of the various integrative processes, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and Jordan signed the Agadir Agreement in 2004. To this date, it stands as one of the most significant economic agreements in the MENA region. Taking into account this variety of factors, this book offers a new assessment of the pull between unity and disunity in the Middle East and North Africa region

Research Paper (postgraduate) from the year 2011 in the subject Communications - Print Media, Press, grade: none, , course: Communications, language: English, abstract: The purpose of this study was to establish the impact of print media on the East African Integration. It was guided by five objectives which aimed at establishing the amount of coverage that print media gives to EAC issues, determining the issues given priority by the print media as regards EAC, establishing how print media frames issues related to EAC, establishing the accuracy, framing and balancing coverage of the East African Integration. The literature review for the study focused on such things as the integration of the African continent in general. The idea of integration has been encouraged by rapid spread of globalization which is forcing many countries of the world to come together to form regional blocks for closer cooperation in trade issues among others. The agenda setting theory was advanced to explain the role of print media in the integration process. The study results validated all that is advocated by the agenda setting theory. The study used content analysis as a survey design. This entailed analyzing the contents of the articles dealing with East African Integration. In general the study shows that the print media as presented by The East African has a positive influence on issues of integration. Some of the articles published by the newspaper shows that trade, the economy, education, infrastructure and the common market protocol have benefited a lot from integration efforts.

The East African Community (EAC) has been among the fastest growing regions in sub-Saharan Africa in the past decade or so. Nonetheless, the recent growth path will not be enough to achieve middle-income status and substantial poverty reduction by the end of the decade—the ambition of most countries in the region. This paper builds on methodologies established in the growth literature to identify a group of countries that achieved growth accelerations and sustained growth to use as benchmarks to evaluate the prospects, and potential constraints, for EAC countries to translate their recent growth upturn into sustained high growth. We find that EAC countries compare favorably to the group of sustained growth countries—macroeconomic and government stability, favorable business climate, and strong institutions—but important differences remain. EAC countries have a smaller share of exports, lower degree of financial deepening, lower levels of domestic savings, higher reliance on donor aid, and limited physical infrastructure and human capital. Policy choices to address some of these shortcomings could make a difference in whether the EAC follows the path of sustained growth or follows other countries where growth upturns later fizzled out.

The post-independence integration endeavor of the East African Community has been punctuated with challenges, culminating into the collapse of the 1967-1977 regional organization. The renaissance of the integration agenda since the re-establishment of the regional organization in 1999 has rekindled epistemological debate among scholars and practitioners on the East African Community raison d'etre and integration process. This volume is the first of its kind in this ongoing debate that puts into proper context the nexus between the East African citizens and the integration agenda. Focusing on the Partner States case studies, the authors of the chapters operationalize the concepts of popular participation, eastafricanness, eastafricanization, democratization, and integration. Using political, national constitutions and EAC treaty, communication and awareness dimensions the authors of the chapters have analyzed the nexus between the EACcitizens and the integration process. The study generally proceeds from the premise that the exclusion of the EAC citizens from exercising their sovereign rights through popular participation undermines the prospects for the institutionalization and consolidation of the EAC identity, eastafricanness, eastafricanization, democratization and integration.

This open access book on the state of peacebuilding in Africa brings together the work of distinguished scholars, practitioners, and decision makers to reflect on key experiences and lessons learned in peacebuilding in Africa over the past half century. The core themes addressed by the contributors include conflict prevention, mediation, and management; post-conflict reconstruction, justice and Disarmament Demobilization and Reintegration; the role of women, religion, humanitarianism, grassroots organizations, and early warning systems; and the impact of global, regional, and continental bodies. The book's thematic chapters are complemented by six country/region case studies: The Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Sudan/South Sudan, Mozambique and the Sahel/Mali. Each chapter concludes with a set of key lessons learned that could be used to inform the building of a more sustainable peace in Africa. The State of Peacebuilding in Africa was born out of the activities of the Southern Voices Network for Peacebuilding (SVNP), a Carnegie-funded, continent-wide network of African organizations that works with the Wilson Center to bring African knowledge and perspectives to U.S., African, and international policy on peacebuilding in Africa. The research for this book was made possible by a grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York.

The objective of this book is to investigate various initiatives to integrate the East African region from the colonial period to 2000, when the new East African Community (EAC) was formed. The analysis is focused on the process of integration from 1948 when formal institutions of cooperation were created under the East African High Commission (EAHC), and its transformation in 1961 into the East African Common Services Organisation (EACSO). The author argues that efforts made to integrate the British East African colonial territories of Tanganyika, Kenya, Uganda and Zanzibar, through these organisations, was largely aimed at consolidating colonial and imperial interests; the concentration of most assets and investments in Kenya resulting in inequitable sharing of benefits. He posits that the continuation of these inequalities were carried over to the East African Community in 1966 and led to its collapse, together with different developmental paths followed by the countries. He argues that the EAC formed in 2000 largely due to pressures of globalistion and trade liberalisation; and makes recommendations as to how the EAC can become a truly regional structure.