This landmark book is the first of its kind to assess the challenges of African region-building and regional integration across all five African sub-regions and more than five decades of experience, considering both political and economic aspects. Leading scholars and practitioners come together to analyze a range of entwined topics, including: the theoretical underpinnings that have informed Africa's regional integration trajectory; the political economy of integration, including the sources of different 'waves' of integration in pan-Africanism and the reaction to neo-liberal economic pressures; the complexities of integration in a context of weak states and the informal regionalization that often occurs in 'borderlands'; the increasing salience of Africa's relationships with rising extra-regional economic powers, including China and India; and comparative lessons from non-African regional blocs, including the EU, ASEAN, and the Southern Common Market. A core argument of this book, running through all chapters, is that region-building must be recognized as a political project as much as if not more than an economic one; successful region-building in Africa will need to include the complex political tasks of strengthening state capacity (including states' capacity as 'developmental states' that can actively engage in economic planning), resolving long-standing conflicts over resources and political dominance, improving democratic governance, and developing trans-national political structures that are legitimate and inclusive.

Introduction; Daniel Levine and Dawn NagarPART I: THEMES AND CONCEPTS OF REGION-BUILDING AND REGIONAL INTEGRATION IN AFRICA1. Region-building Debates in a Global Context; Louise Fawcett2. Regional Integration in Africa: Theory and Practice; John Ravenhill3. A Tale of Three Cassandras: Jean Monnet, Raúl Prebisch, and Adebayo Adedeji; Adekeye AdebajoPART II: THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF AFRICA'S REGION-BUILDING AND REGIONAL INTEGRATION INITIATIVES4. Cross-border Interactions and Regionalism; Daniel Bach5. Infrastructure and Regional Integration in Africa; Afeikhena Jerome and David Nabena6. African Agency Post-2015: The Roles of Regional Powers and Developmental States in Regional Integration; Timothy M. Shaw7. The Political Economy of Africa's Region-building and Regional Integration; Samuel K.B. AsantePART III: THE AFRICAN UNION (AU) AND SUB-REGIONAL ORGANISATIONS AND INITIATIVES8. The African Union and Region Integration in Africa; Kasaija Phillip Apuuli9. Region-building in Southern Africa; Scott Taylor10. Region-building in Eastern Africa; Gilbert M. Khadiagala11. COMESA and SADC: The Era of Convergence; Dawn Nagar12. Region-building in West Africa; Said Adejumobi13. Region-building in Central Africa; René Lemarchand14. Region-building in North Africa; Azzedine LayachiPART IV: COMPARATIVE REGIONAL SCHEMES: LESSONS FOR AFRICA15. Necessary but Not Automatic: How Europe Learned to Integrate; N. Piers Ludlow16. Lessons from Asia: The Association of Southeast Asian Nations; Mely Caballero-Anthony17. Lessons from Latin America: MERCOSUR; Laura Goméz-MeraConclusion; Daniel Levine