Regionalism in East Africa c. 1900 to the present

This project will undertake the first comprehensive historical study of regionalism in East Africa in the twentieth century. Ideas about formal political and economic integration among the various territories of East Africa have a deep history in the region, dating back to the colonial period, and currently manifested in the institutions of the (second) East African Community, an intergovernmental organisation comprised of six eastern African states: Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan. Partly owing to this deep and continuing history, East African regionalism has often been seen as a beacon of effective regional integration in Africa, and assertions of a powerful sense of common regional identity - even destiny - have been an important part of the official rhetoric of the EAC over several decades. But the extent to which regional integration has delivered positive public outcomes or alternatively simply served the interests of a small regional elite in East Africa remains hotly contested (reflecting broader global debates on this issue). This project will engage this central question within both a regional and global setting, examining the origins, character and outcomes of regional integration initiatives as the product both of East African internal dynamics as well as of interlinked global structures and processes (colonialism, decolonisation, global regionalisms, and neo-liberalism). In so doing it will fill a major lacunae in the current scholarly literature on the history and politics of East Africa, moving beyond methodological nationalism to write a history of attempts at building region alongside nation. More broadly, the persistence of regionalism as a political and economic phenomenon in East Africa over time also makes the region an excellent case for examining and historicising wider debates around regionalism in Africa and the world.

This project, which builds on a successfully completed pilot study (British Academy funded - regional integration in 1960s-70s East Africa) brings together a team of historians and political scientists to examine

a) the colonial origins of integration projects - ideas of 'closer union' and federation that were debated amongst settlers and colonial officials in British East Africa during the first half of the twentieth century, alongside the establishment of regional institutions by the British
b) ideas of federation and 'community' that emerged among nationalists and East African publics in the years of decolonisation and independence,
c) the establishment and collapse of the first East African Community between 1965 and 1977
d) the revival and expansion of the East African Community from the 1990s to the present

Throughout we will focus on key themes including

a) the shifting intellectual content of regionalist visions (pan-Africanism; federalism; state-led developmentalism; neo-liberalism)
b) the politics of integration in the context of intra-regional relations more broadly
c) the (uneven) economic impact of regional integration
d) the role of external actors in shaping regional integration projects, and the role of local elite agency in mediating or transforming external interventions
e) continuities and changes in the above themes over time.

The research will utilise archival documentation, press material, official reports and interviews with figures involved in regional integration to produce academic and non-academic outputs that will make a major contribution to academic debate on global regionalisms and to policy discussions on the future of regional integration in East Africa.

The project speaks directly to the successes and limitations of contemporary regionalism in East Africa, and aims to historicise these in regional and global contexts. The findings will be of great relevance to a range of groupings in East Africa and Europe aiming to promote a more effective form of regionalism and seeking to engage East African citizens in regionalist projects. Users will include:

1) Educational institutions in East Africa. Building on an existing relationship with the Institute for Regional Integration and Development (IRID) at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa, the PI and the Director of IRID will co-design a new MA module, 'The history of regional integration in East Africa'. This will be delivered by IRID teaching staff as part of their MA in Regional Integration, a programme which aims to shape future civil servants of the EAC. The module will utilise curated source materials gathered during the course of this project, and will add research-led, historical perspective to the teaching of the MA at IRID.

A range of policy and civil society users will also be targeted, including

2) The East African Community, especially the outward-facing Secretariat, which is eager to engage with academic knowledge and promote a more transparent, 'people-centred' form of regional integration. The EAC will benefit from understanding how the history of regionalism in East Africa shapes the strengths and weakness of the present-day EAC. This understanding may feed into internal policy development and the EAC's efforts at developing 'people-centred' integration.

3) Civil society groups and NGOs in East Africa also interested in promoting a more 'people-centred' form of regional integration. These groups will benefit from new information and high quality analyses of the character of regional integration in East Africa in a historical and global perspective. This will enable them to better understand the obstacles to change and to design more effective strategies to promote change.

4) International (especially the EU) promoters of regional integration in East Africa. These groups will benefit from a greater understanding of the ways in which previous attempts to influence the form and character of regional institutions have worked in practice, and thus help them to design more effective strategies to promote more substantive regional integration.

These users will be engaged with the project through a variety of means:
A project conference will be held at IRID during the project's second year, and invite members of all stakeholder groups mentioned above.
A final research report of 10.000 words will set out policy-relevant project results, and shorter briefings will be prepared for stakeholder groups in response to related 'real-world' events during the course of research.
Further dissemination opportunities with civil society groups in the region will be developed during the course of the project research.