‘New Regionalism’ in Africa: Form of the Adaptation to Globalization or the Attempt of Opposition to Modern Neocolonialism?

Abstract

The paper is devoted to the analyses of the evolution problems of such key for African states phenomena as globalization, regionalism and neo­colonialism. The attempts of transnational corporations to realize the “vertical” integration with the post­colonial African economies had stimulated the development of the “horizontal” inter­African integration – on regional and continental scales. In 1980­1990­s, after the extra measures for the African economies’ liberalization, the integration processes had made more active. Later they were transformed and the formal declarations about interstate cooperation were changed by the complex programs, adopted by all the members of African Union – “A global strategy to optimize use of Africa’s resources for the benefits of all Africans” (2013­2063), based on the successful practices of eight African regional economic groups, and African Continental Free Trade Area, AfCFTA (2019). New regionalism, emerged after including the problems of ecology, culture etc. in the sphere of intergovernmental cooperation, was a result of deep changes in the international division of labor. It needed the structural transformation of economies­members of the regional groups. Nowadays the growing interaction of the economic integration and globalization processes in Africa does not insure against the influence of modern neo­colonialism. Apart from this, the globalization is not equal as to “westernization” so the neo­colonialism according to, firstly, growing influence of the “East” within the world economy and, secondly, the differences between the objective process of the globalization and the static model of neo­colonial interconnections between developed and developing economics. In the “new regionalism” conditions, African countries as the parts of the world economy periphery are simultaneously the subjects of globalization and the objects of neocolonial influence. This situation contradicts with the needs of the Fourth industrial revolution, but stimulates African states to develop interactions between continental institutes and international economic organizations.

Keywords

• africa
• regionalism
• globalization
• neo­colonialism
• economic integration
• new regionalism
• periphery of global economy
• technological development