African continental integration scholarly literature review: Advances, gaps, and opportunities

ABSTRACT

Deeper continental integration is considered critical for Africa’s future growth, development and transformation. This paper reports on the results of a comprehensive review of the scholarly literature on Africa’s continental integration dating back to the 1960s. We wanted to focus on publications drawing on the organization and management literature, but found these to be limited in number and scope. The review covered a range of topics relevant for continental integration including peace and security, decolonization, diplomacy and politics, cultural exchanges, social and economic development, environmental protection, and sustainable development. Although about half of the studies reviewed were atheoretical, the rest covered a range of theories from different disciplines. Most of the studies used documentary analysis and literature reviews; few used survey methods or quantitative data collection and analysis. Review results were grouped into five key areas for continental integration: organizational, economic, political, peace and security, and human rights. The paper concludes by identifying gaps and opportunities for research. Theory development in particular would help to improve understanding of the complexities of continental integration, and guide evidence-based policy and practice for deeper, more effective and sustained continental integration to improve the lives of Africans at home and in the diaspora.

KEYWORDS:

• Africa
• continental integration
• OAU and AU
• types of integration
• intergovernmental organization

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Sarah Katz-Lavigne is a lecturer and researcher at the University of Bayreuth. She is about to defend her PhD dissertation in International Affairs at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University and International Relations at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. Her research focuses on conflict at and around large-scale mining (LSM) sites in southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). She examines how a range of actors govern the “clandestine” extraction of minerals from LSM sites, and the impact of the functioning of a multifaceted property rights regime on conflict and distributional dynamics at and around mine sites. Sarah has published in The Extractive Industries and Society, Resources Policy, and Third World Thematics, and has a forthcoming piece in the Canadian Journal of African Studies (with Doris Buss, Aluoka Otieno, and Eileen Alma). She has published policy-focused articles in The Washington Post's Monkey Cage and in Africa is a Country.

Moses N. Kiggundu is Distinguished Research Professor, Sprott School of Business, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and is cross-appointed with the Institute of African Studies at Carleton. He earned his PhD degree in Management and Administrative Sciences at the University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. His research interests include the advancement of management scholarship to address major development issues facing humanity, especially in developing and emerging countries. He is currently serving as the Founding Editor of the Africa Journal of Management.

ORCID

Moses N. Kiggundu http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9313-1939

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Carleton University.