Amity and Enmity in Regional Integration; the East African Community (EAC) Experience

Abstract

East African Community from a traditional three states to the current six states has undergone different experiences in her cooperation and integration process from the pre-independence, the independence era, and post-independence era which suits the definition of the contemporary era. The context of the contemporary global political economy revolves around a post-tripartite trading block among neighboring states, shaped by empirical theory (what is the question) as opposed to the normative theory of “what ought to be”. Such realities are relationships based in forms of amity and enmity in the process of competition between citizens/states over policy preferences and interests. The resultant effects lead to; first, shifts in patterns of cooperation and integration, and secondly, the existence of durability and endurability in cooperation and integration. After examination and assessment of the effects respectively in relation to the East African experience, this article/presentation proposes a need to transcend the above enmity for amity in East African Community Cooperation and Integration process. Underscoring the existence of amity and enmity in state cooperation and integration in a region such as EAC defines a Regional Security Complex due to socio-eco-political beneficial security interdependences and existing vs potential conflicts. The need for a unified developmental-centric approach through cooperation and integration by EAC from the foregoing prompts the need for the application of Regional Security Complex Theory (RSCT) by Buzan and Waver.