Globalization and politics in the Economic Community of West African States (Nigeria, Senegal, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana)

This dissertation discussed the political movements which took place throughout Africa in the early 1990. Known diversely as the third liberation of Africa or the awakening of democracy, the movements started as students, political activists and opponents, members of the civil society, dissatisfied workers and unemployed people took to the streets with the conviction that time had come for political leadership to change and to make democracy more meaningful to masses than to jut a small class of people. The deteriorating economic situation being a factor, the continent wide movements were so intense that they touched all the sectors of activities. Cries and calls for democracy, liberty, and better economic conditions marked the 1990's.; With this dissertation, the researcher estimated that time had come to assess the achievements of these movements by raising some questions: did Africa change its political culture? Did democracy take hold in Africa? Are liberties more guaranteed in Africa today than they were before? Are the changes enough to help Africa claim the 21st century? Is there still a glimmer of hope for the future of the continent? In attempting to answer these questions, I restricted the research to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) as subject of analysis. I combined the Africa (n) centeredness, autocentricity, and the political interaction framework as paradigms of analysis. I also used the qualitative and quantitative methods to analyze the data I collected from newspapers, interviews, books, films and documentaries to capture the current reality of West Africa.; I proved that the changes of the 1990's and current politics in West Africa were related to globalization. I argued that globalization and the reactions it provoked explained the unsatisfactory forms of democracies and the numerous political conflicts in West Africa. I also showed that despite the current contradictions democracy was possible in Africa through a rethinking of the basis of evaluation of democracies and through a rebirth of Pan West Africanism. This Pan West Africanism entails the respect of international treaties and the creation of a strong coalition between four most prominent countries of West Africa, Nigeria, Senegal, Cote d'Ivoire, and Ghana.