Abstract
This thesis examines the African Union’s progress, challenges and opportunities from 2000–2021. A historical account focuses on the reasons for transitioning from its predecessor, the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) to the present-day African Union (AU) will highlight the persisting gaps, which gave rise to the latter. The promotion of dependency theory as a research program (DTRP/Centre-periphery framework), is used over the course of the thesis as an analytical framework to inform the focus of the study. At the turn of the 21st century, new regionalism heralded greater interdependence of the world’s nations against non-territorial threatening challenges, among them climate change and global terrorism. The shrinking of world resources, climate change and transnational terrorism has underscored the global dimensions, which continue to have an impact on Africa. The 21st century, as echoed by the AU, would be an African century, in which its Agenda 2063 development initiatives would be used as a central development framework. Using the DTRP/Centre-periphery framework and a qualitative and quantitative methodology with reliance on interview data from African Union experts as well as literary discourses on Africa’s integration and pursuit of self-reliance and sustenance, this dissertation explores the substantive shared values in materialising Agenda 2063.
The thesis also provides definitions and assumptions of another theory deployed to strengthen the research within the DTRP/Centre-periphery nexus:i) neo-functionalism is a theory of region integration predicated on the roles of regional organisations like AU, EU, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development(IBRD interchangeably used with World Bank: WB), UN,WTO and IMF in fostering regionalism. The research findings are the answers to the research questions derived from primary and secondary data. Against the backdrop of research findings, recommendations will be made in various areas of organisational development such as: strengthened programming; data management and knowledge capitalisation; resource mobilisation; free movement of people across borders; development of transcontinental and inter-regional infrastructures.
Keywords: human security; regionalism; regional cooperation; regional integration; new regionalism; economic partnership agreements; Global North; peace and security.