Okoli, Rowland Chukwuma and Mbaeze, Netchy and Okonkwo, Willy (2018) Multilateral Trading System and Regionalism in Africa: The West African Experience, 2000 – 2017. In: UNSPECIFIED.
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Abstract
Contemporary multilateral trading system is anchored on the principles of the World Trade Organization (WTO) which has continued to regulate global trade in line with the capitalist aspirations of the global North. The central objective of this study is to investigate whether the contemporary multilateral trading system undermines regionalism in West Africa. The study is anchored the theory of complex interdependence, while documentary approach was employed as the method of data collection. We noted that advanced capitalist countries have continued to exploit the multilateral trading system under the auspices of the WTO to reinforce the mono-cultural and non-complementary nature of West African economies. More specifically, there has been proliferation of Bilateral Trade Agreements (BTAs) between individual West African countries and European Union which opens up African economies for exploitation of European countries through unequal trade. Consequently, West African countries trade more with developed countries of Europe than they trade among themselves leading to insignificant intra-regional trade. The paper recommends that current efforts aimed at regional integration should be sustained beyond paper agreements. We further advocate for evidence-based reforms that would ensure adoption of developmental state strategy to facilitate diversification of economies, provision of subsidies for small and medium scale industries so as to reduce the non-complementary and mono-cultural character of West African economies.
| Item Type: | Conference or Workshop Item (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Subjects: | J Political Science > J General legislative and executive papers |
| Divisions: | Faculty of Management and Social Sciences |
| Depositing User: | mrs chioma hannah |
| Date Deposited: | 18 Apr 2019 14:21 |
| Last Modified: | 18 Apr 2019 14:21 |
| URI: | http://eprints.gouni.edu.ng/id/eprint/1184 |
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