East African co-operation: Trade patterns and institutional arrangements

The main themes of this thesis are categorized into two parts. First, the elaborates the limits of the traditional theory of economic integration in East Africa and recommends suitable type of integration for the region. Second, the thesis examines regional institutions in East Africa to judge their adequacy to meet the needs of regional economic integration.; The author argues that trade-driven integration is of little promise since member states do not trade significantly among themselves versus the rest of the world. Also, a lack of a reliable economic infrastructure in the region hinders an expansion of regional trade. The author suggests that member states should adopt 'regulated economic cooperation' geared towards establishing a joint economic infrastructure and sound regional institutions capable of dealing with the problem of sharing of the benefits of integration.