Understanding African Integration from African theoretical perspective

Abstract

Inquiry into regional integration has recently created the attention particularly of social scientists and policy makers into this new field of knowledge with emphasis on European integration as the best existing model of integration. This has consequently led to the development of theories and concepts that explain the philosophical ideologies of regional integration from the perspectives of European integration. While these theories have been borrowed heavily to explain integration across the globe, there are certain specific Africans theories that best explains African integration since independence to date. This paper hopes at using these African perspectives to explain African integration. The inspiration from this paper is to help understand what regional integration in Africa is and what fundamental ideologies explain regional integration in Africa. It must be emphasized that this paper seeks to analyze two important African ideologies (Pan Africanism and African Renaissance) that promote and explain regional integration in Africa. While Pan Africanism sought to promote African unity through political liberation of African states from colonialism and slave trade, African Renaissance goes beyond political liberation to chart the path of Africa’s economic, sociocultural and political development advanced by globalization and technology for Africa unity.