Analysis of the Role of the ECOWAS Court in Regional Integration in West Africa

Abstract

As a case study, the ECOWAS typifies an absence of effective judicial frameworks to strengthen, or, at least, complement, the integration of markets in the schemes of regional integration in Africa. Two decades since its creation, the Community Court of Justice of the ECOWAS has escaped scholarly analysis, creating a gap in the state of knowledge on regional integration in Africa. Accordingly, this thesis directs attention to the need to study the ECOWAS Court as a distinct actor within the contemporary international legal/political system, particularly in its role in the integration of the West African sub-region. This research work takes a critical look at the role that judicial institutions can play in the furtherance of regional integration in Africa. Adapting social science methodology for analysis of a judicial institution, the thesis undertakes the first comprehensive examination of the law, machinery, practice and procedure of the Court. The court-centred analysis allows for an appraisal of how the Court is shaping the dynamics of integration activities in West Africa. It examines the contribution (both actual and potential) of the Court to moulding the legal and constitutional framework within which the ECOWAS operates. It situates the Court within the organisational context of an emerging regional community and examines how the Court impacts and is impacted upon by the institutions of the ECOWAS. It emphasises the centrality of the Court to the maintenance of the delicate equilibrium necessary for the harmonisation of the competing interests of the Member States and Institutions of the ECOWAS.