Identities, interests, regional integration, and economic development : the case of the African Continental Free Trade Area.

Abstract

The framing, adoption, and implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement signify post-colonial Africa’s cherished commitment to advancing regional economic integration and development to build the Africa envisioned by successive generations of pan-Africanists. The Agreement Establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area aims to create the world’s largest free trade area, supercharge economic growth, foster structural economic transformation, and promote continental economic integration by creating a liberalised market for goods and services, boosting investment opportunities, and paving the way for a future continental customs union. The analysis of the AfCFTA vision has been deficient in examining the role of converging and diverging identities and interests in enabling or constraining the emergence and development of the AfCFTA. This study aimed to explore how the underlying rationale for the establishment of the African Continental Free Trade Area can be understood, interrogate the major players and evaluate their interests in its creation, and examine how the interests and identities of different players shape its development. The study used three theories: Nyerere’s theory of integration, intergovernmentalism, and social constructivism—a theoretical synthesis that embraces diverse perspectives and compensates for the limitations of each. A qualitative approach was adopted, and data was collected through semi-structured interviews. Expert and chain sampling were employed to identify information-rich participants with strong knowledge of the AfCFTA. Thirty-five participants were interviewed, including independent analysts and officials from the African Union’s AfCFTA Secretariat, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, and the South African Institute of International Affairs. A thematic analysis tool was used to analyse the data and identify meaningful trends and patterns. The study found that the promotion of economic diversification, industrialisation, endogenous development, innovation and competitiveness, and the dismantling of colonial economic legacies underpin the establishment of the AfCFTA. It found that several players— including states, intergovernmental organisations, technical institutions, the private sector, the largest economies, and external players—each with different interests, have contributed to the creation and operation of the AfCFTA. It found that several ideational and ascriptive identities—including anticolonial, pan-African, African norms-related, hybrid liberalprotectionist, nationalistic, regional (geo-cultural), cultural, and extra-continental actor identities—shape the development and implementation of the AfCFTA. The study also found that the AU and the RECs have no structured framework for managing identity-related dynamics. Thus, it made several policy and future research recommendations to address the issues identified in the findings and ensure the long-term viability of the AfCFTA, including the need for the African Union and the Regional Economic Communities to develop a structured, institutionalised framework to cultivate a shared pan-African and free-market identity across the continent and, simultaneously, move toward independent, state-led financing to shield African agency from external dependency.