Rethinking Civil Society Regionalism in Africa: Challenges and Opportunities in Democratic Participation and Peacebuilding in the Post-Ecowas Vision 2

This book interrogates the extent to which regional civil society organisations have evolved as actors in West Africa. Examining civil society democratic participation in regional integration and involvement in regionalism of peacebuilding, it rethinks how we study civil society in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) region. Beyond the functional typology of civil society actors as ’partner’, ’legitimiser’, ’resistance/counter-hegemonic’ and ’manipulator’, the book develops a new analytical framework to understand how organisations such as the West African Civil Society Forum (WACSOF) and West African Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP) have evolved. Offering analytical perspectives of the actorship of specific regional civil society actors, the book draws attention to the tendencies in the previous studies of mistaking an action or misdeed that is empirically specific to particular civil society organisations within a region to the generality of the civic space of the region. Providing an alternative perspective aimed at invoking a new intellectual conversation about civil society regionalism this book advances a new analytical framework of action-based regional identity of civil society, regional presence of activities, regional capacities and societal impact. It will be of interest to academics and scholars of international relations, global governance, African politics and comparative regionalism.

Dele Kogbe, PhD is a visiting research fellow at the University of South Wales, UK, and co-convenor of the British International Studies Association - Africa Working Group. He has taught politics and international relations at the University of Dundee, where he co-founded Dundee Africa Research Network. A writer of multiple parts, besides researching African security and comparative regionalism, Dele is a published poet, novelist and playwright who employs a literary medium and social research to interrogate complex issues of politics and societies in speaking the truth to power. He is the author of The Girl Who Dares the King (Drama).