State's Attitude to Boundaries and Africa's Challenging Integration

Since the 1960s, African states have sought ways to overcome the challenges of economic and political integration through the establishment and promotion of regional and sub-regional organizations across the continent. The different efforts have yielded very modest success altogether, nevertheless, it appears Africans are the architect of the continent¿s low level of integration. African¿s nationalist approach to international boundaries and the inclination for and disposition towards economic nationalism in relations to neighboring states has been identified as major impediments to the process of integration in the continent. State¿s Attitude to Boundaries and Africäs Challenging Integration, therefore, explores the nexus between international boundaries and regional integration. Using European experience with transboundary cooperation before 1945 as a template for assessment, the author investigates and analyses transboundary cooperation among African states during colonial and the post-colonial periods and argues that the level of success so far attained in the process of regional integration in Africa is a function of the attitude of African states to international boundaries