African Unification

Ever since Edward Blyden, the Liberian of West Indian origin, began to conceptualize a West African state, African leaders, scholars and activists have envisaged cooperation, integration and also unification of the continent. The model form for them has been European unification and the enduring puzzle for African unification is why Europe has managed to craft and develop strong institutions and organizations while African unification lags behind. While much research has been produced to explain this, African Unification tries to open up new lines of inquiry. Using an interdisciplinary approach, the author demonstrates the importance of insights from historical jurisprudence, contract law as applied to international law and organization, and the new institutional economics in understanding why African unification remains problematic.