Afro-regions : the dynamics of cross-border micro-regionalism in Africa

Abstract

This collection focuses on the making and unmaking of cross-border micro-regions in Africa. Its main emphasis is that micro-regions are not givens, but are constructed and reconstructed through social practice, political economy and, in discourse, by a variety of states, corporations and non-state actors. The region-builders are the focus -- that is, those actors that build and make micro-regions and their associated region-building strategies. Key research questions are: for whom, for what purpose and with what consequences are micro-regions being made and unmade? There is also special emphasis on how people on the ground and local communities create their own region-building strategies and how they respond to the region-building strategies of others. The case studies -- by leading scholars of African studies and the result of extensive fieldwork -- include a wide selection of micro-regions all over Africa, such as the Maputo Development Corridor, the Zambezi Valley region, the Zambia-Malawi-Mozambique Growth Triangle, Walvis Bay, the Sierra Leone-Liberia border zone, cross-border micro-regions on the Horn of Africa, the Great Lakes region, North Africa, and so forth.

CONTENTS -- INTRODUCTION -- Considering Micro-Regionalism in Africa in the Twenty-first Century/Fredrik Söderbaum and Ian Taylor -- PART ONE: INFORMALISING THE FORMAL — OR VICE VERSA? -- Competing Region-building in the Maputo Development Corridor/Fredrik Söderbaum and Ian Taylor -- Walvis Bay-Swakopmund: Desert Micro-region and Aspiring Regional Gateway/David Simon and Muriel Samé Ekobo -- Region-building in Central Mozambique: The Case of the Zambezi Valley Spatial Development Initiative/Milissão Nuvunga -- The Zambia-Malawi-Mozambique Growth-Triangle (ZMM-GT): Discursive Region-Building in Africa and Consequences for Development/Nikki Slocum-Bradley -- PART TWO: THE INFORMALITY OF MICRO-REGIONALISM IN AFRICA -- Informal Cross-Border Micro-Regionalism in West Africa: The Case of the Parrot’s Beak/J. Andrew Grant -- “At the Gates of El Dorado”: Micro-Dynamics in the Transnational Border Area between Northern Morocco and Europe/Terhi Lehtinen -- The Road to the Sea: The Regional Politics of Ethiopia’s Trade/Christopher Clapham -- War in the Great Lakes Region and Ugandan Conflict Zones: Micro-regionalisms and Meta-narratives/Morten Bøås and Kathleen M. Jennings -- CONCLUSION -- Beyond Parochialism: Cross-border Micro-Regionalism as a Gateway/Daniel Bach