Regional Integration, Human Rights and Democratic Participation in Africa

Abstract

After World War II as well as the Cold War, the political landscape of Africa changed fundamentally. In a long process, which lasted up to the mid 1990s, the remaining territories under colonial domination achieved independence. In order to promote peace, independence and development, African States started a close cooperation lasting until today. The cooperation effectively started out at regional level but was soon accompanied by developments at subregional level. Diverse structures emerged for this purpose and developed over time. Thus all regional and subregional structures started developing their own institutions and processes in order to ensure the implementation of the respective objectives.The process of regional and subregional integration was linked to the post-war international order and the United Nations system more specifically. Thus the regional and subregional integration process within Africa served different objectives, such as the maintenance of peace and security, development and economic integration. However, with the end of colonization human rights and democratic participation played an increasing role in this process. This study will explore, how these two aspects emerged in terms of rules and institutions. It will also assess the working of related institutions in practice in order to assess the effectiveness of human rights protection and democratic participation in African regional and subregional integration. The protection of human rights and a functioning democracy -also at regional and sub-regional level -are closely interlinked.