Examines how regional integration can resolve the crises of the Greater
Horn of Africa, exploring how it can be used as a mechanism for conflict
resolution, promoting the economy and tackling issues of identity and
citizenship.
The Greater Horn of Africa (GHA) is engulfed by three interrelated
crises: various inter-state wars, civil wars, and inter-communal
conflicts; an economic crisis manifested in widespread debilitating
poverty, chronic food insecurity and famines; and environmental
degradation that is ravaging the region. While it is apparent that the
countries of the region are unlikely to be able to deal with the crises
individually, there is consensus that their chances of doing so improve
markedly with collective regional action.
The contributors to this volume address the need for regional
integration in the GHA. They identify those factors that can foster
integration, such as the proper management of equitable citizenship
rights, as well as examining those that impede it, including the
region's largely ineffective integration scheme, IGAD, and explore how
the former can be strengthened and the latter transformed; explain how
regional integration can mitigate the conflicts; and examine how
integration can help to energise the region's economy.
Kidane Mengisteab is Professor of African Studies and Political Science
at Penn State University; Redie Bereketeab is a researcher at the Nordic
Africa Institute, Sweden.
