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Governance and Politics

The Politics of Regional Integration in West Africa

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The two excerpts above paint a very gloomy picture of the overall economic, technological, social and political fortunes of West Africa. More depressing is the fact that these vital statistics have so far remained bleak, the existence of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in the last thirty-six years notwithstanding. Today, the UN classifies 73% of West African states as Least Developed Countries (LDCs). ECOWAS accounts for 35% of the African LDCs-making West Africa the foremost LDC region in Africa and, indeed the world as a whole. No less than eleven ECOWAS countries exhibit some of the lowest socio-economic development indicators, including the lowest Human Development Index ratings in the world... (Only) Cape Verde, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana and Nigeria are non-LDCs...The average annual per capita income of $949 in 2007, veils the grimmer reality of nearly 60% of the people in the region live on less than one US dollar a day. This is far above the 46% for sub-Saharan Africa...indeed West Africa is the region with the highest prevalence of poverty in the world today. This parlous economic state has meant over-reliance on foreign aid and loans, a situation that resulted in the designation of almost all the ECOWAS countries (with the exception of Nigeria and Cape Verde) as Highly Indebted Poor Countries...1

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globalization
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