Authoritarian regimes in democratic regional organisations? Exploring regional dimensions of authoritarianism in an increasingly democratic West Africa

ABSTRACT

Research suggests that regional organisations ‘lock in’ their dominant political systems. Democratic regionalism stabilises transitioning democracies whilst regionalism in autocratic regions is associated with boosts in authoritarianism. Little research, however, has examined the regional-level trends and tactics that authoritarian leaders have sought to exploit in democratising regions. This article focuses on increasingly democratic West Africa, examining how authoritarian leaders have at times benefitted from regional dynamics in an otherwise democratising region. It suggests that both formal and informal regional interactions can provide benefits that support authoritarianism and suggests a typology of the mechanisms through which this can happen. It serves as a potential guide for other regions in Africa yet to democratise to the level of West Africa, and as warning regarding the types of regional authoritarianism-enhancing processes that could be used to support backsliding in (West) Africa and elsewhere.

KEYWORDS:

• Democracy
• authoritarianism
• West Africa
• regionalism
• ECOWAS
• AU

Acknowledgements

This article results from research conducted during a post-doctoral fellowship at the Kolleg-Forschergruppe (KFG) ‘The Transformative Power of Europe’, hosted at the Freie Universität Berlin. The KFG is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft)).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Note on contributor

Dr Edward Stoddard is a Senior Lecturer in International Relations and Contemporary Security at the University of Portsmouth, UK. He is a member of the Centre for European and International Studies Research (CEISR) at the University of Portsmouth and a member of the West Africa Peace and Security Network (WAPSN). During the initial writing of this article, he was Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the Kolleg-Forschergruppe (KFG) ‘The Transformative Power of Europe,’ hosted at the Freie Universität Berlin. The KFG is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). He can be contacted at [email protected].