Integration and Borders

Wafula Okumu is a Visiting Professor in Practice at the LSE and the founding Director of The Border Institute. He has held honorary fellowship at the Centre of African Studies at the University of Edinburgh, served in various international organisations, and taught at universities across the globe. His extensive research and publications cover diverse topics including borders, democracy, human rights, terrorism, peace, international institutions, and humanitarian assistance in Africa. He has authored and co-authored numerous influential works, contributing significantly to African studies.

Reading recommendations

Africa Must Unite by Kwame Nkrumah

This is a foundational argument for the total liberation and integration of Africa. Written by Kwame Nkrumah in 1963, the book posits that disunity poses an existential threat to African states, leaving them vulnerable to external exploitation despite formal independence. Nkrumah advocates for economic unity, a joint military command, a single currency, and a common foreign policy. Although initially viewed as radical, these ideas have profoundly influenced modern Pan-Africanism and inspired key integration initiatives like the African Union (AU) and Agenda 2063, making it essential reading for understanding Africa's unification quests.

The African Union: Addressing the Challenges of Peace, Security, and Governance by Samuel M. Makinda, F. Wafula Okumu, and David Mickler

A highly regarded textbook offering a deep institutional and political analysis of the African Union (AU). It meticulously examines the AU's key structures, including the African Peace and Security Architecture, and highlights the negative impacts of bad governance and lack of strategic leadership on continental integration. The authors analyse the transition of norms such as the OAU's “non-interference” dogma to the AU's “non-indifference” principle. Furthermore, the book exposes the disconnect between the AU's ambitious reformist policies and their actual implementation on the ground, while emphasising the centrality of knowledge in Africa's development.

African Union Law by Olufemi Amao

This is an authoritative examination of the legal mechanics of African integration, drawing comparisons with EU law. The book argues that the AU is transitioning from a state-centric intergovernmental organization to a supranational legal order. It covers critical issues such as legislative powers, direct effect, subsidiarity, and the enforcement of laws. Amao highlights the AU’s shift towards supranationalism through norms like “non-indifference” and the promotion of democracy. However, the text heavily relies on EU legal concepts and somewhat overlooks the persistent resurgence of state sovereignty that challenges this supranational transition.

Regional Integration in Africa: Bridging the North-Sub-Saharan Divide by Hamdi Hassan

Hamdi Hassan challenges the Eurocentric academic tendency to isolate North Africa into “Middle Eastern Studies,” arguing instead for the intricate political and economic links between North and Sub-Saharan Africa. By examining the diplomatic and strategic efforts of North African nations, the book highlights their significant contributions to Pan-African unity and the establishment of organisations like the OAU and the AU. While offering an optimistic view of African unity, the text tends to gloss over structural frictions, such as the enforcement of European migration policies and racial-cultural tensions that can undermine Arab-African solidarity.

A Region in Transition: Towards a New Integration Agenda in East Africa edited by Rok Ajulu

This book comprehensively analyses the historical evolution, contemporary challenges, and future prospects of the East African Community (EAC). It traces the EAC’s journey from its colonial origins and 1977 collapse to its modern revival based on a customs union, common market, monetary union, and political federation. Despite being recognised as Africa's highest-performing Regional Economic Community, the EAC faces significant hurdles. The contributors argue that an overreliance on neoclassical economic models has prioritized trade over people, while resurgent national sovereignty and regional imbalances continue to hamper true integration.

The Institutional Transformation of the Economic Community of West African States by Kofi Oteng Kufuor

This book provides an exhaustive legal and institutional account of ECOWAS’s evolution from a loose intergovernmental framework into a robust multilateral regional arrangement. The book explores the “trading dilemma” of balancing national sovereignty with supranational powers, a challenge common to African regional bodies. Kufuor argues that West African integration is hindered more by domestic structural failures and a lack of open-market infrastructure than by supranational trade rules. While blending domestic and international law effectively, the analysis somewhat undervalues the crucial role of informal cross-border trade networks in driving regional integration.

African Boundaries: Barriers, Conduits and Opportunities edited by Paul Nugent and A.I. Asiwaju

This is a seminal academic work challenging the conventional narrative of African borders as mere lines of division or “artificial colonial impositions.” Instead, it frames them as complex zones of interaction, economic activity, and human survival. The book explores how colonial borders acted as barriers, how local communities transformed them into conduits for trade and migration, and how borderlands offer marginalised groups opportunities like cross-border smuggling and sanctuary. By restoring borderland agency, the authors successfully shift the academic discourse and debunk the myth that African borders were drawn blindly at the Berlin Conference.

Borders and Borderlands as Resources in the Horn of Africa edited by Dereje Feyissa and Markus Hoehne

This interdisciplinary book challenges the traditional view of African borders as ungoverned zones, framing them instead as localised, generative economic resources. Focusing on the Horn of Africa, it highlights how local populations strategically exploit borders for informal cross-border trading, trans-border kinship, and identity benefits. The book argues that despite being porous, these borders create distinct laws, currencies, prices, and security dynamics that communities utilise to their advantage. It also notes the complex realities where some communities rely on rigid state border controls for protection, while others thrive in areas of contested sovereignty.