dc.description.abstract | This study addresses the
??•weak states and regional integration in the
Inter
-
Governmental
Authority
on
Development
(IGAD
) region??–
. The major p
ostulation is that regional integration
leads to economic growth and development. It focuses on the main aspects of the integration that
is
Infrastructure (Transport and Communication) Development, Conflict Prevention,
Management and Resolution and Humanit
arian Affairs
,
Food Security and Environment
of the
IGAD countries
. It
gives
an overview of regional integration, provides an assessment of
integration in the inter
-
governmental authority on development
(IGAD)
region
and presents the
key recommendations on
how obstacles to the integration process can be overcome. This is
generally applicable to other regional integration schemes particularly in Africa.
From the
findings, Regional integration attempt in the IGAD sub
-
region is far from success. There are a
n
u
mber of challenges that hinder
effective integration in the sub
-
region of IGAD. The economic
dependency status of IGAD countries, the poor performance of infrastructure and
communications development, lack of political commitment on the part of the partici
pating
governments, the mistrust, suspicion and lack of confidence among the member states, among
other things, are the major ones. The study concludes that regional blocs in most of the
developing countries consist of weak states with limited size of nati
onal and sub
-
regional
markets. Their low level of development may not allow much market expansion through
regionalism. The dynamic gains from regional groupings
-
the enlarged size of the market and
economies of scale
-
are unlikely to occur if the countries
involved are very poor (having small
market size and low per
-
capita income).
However, larger regional integration arrangement
membership will lead to a stronger international negotiating position in the world affairs.
Regional arrangements that consist
of larger members and 'big brother' are important for
successful integration scheme. These assist them to extract economies
of scale at a regional level
and to enhance the strength of the regional groupings in international status and global
bargaining pow
er in the new trade system. The
issues
of economic dependency status of IGAD
countries
, the need
to
address
the
weak production structures and harmonization of national
efforts to improve agricultural productivity and restructure industrial production are
addressed | |