Causes of Institutional Dynamics and Challenges of Regional Integration in the Horn of Africa since 1986: the Case of IGAD
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Date
2025-11-01
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Addis Ababa unversty
Abstract
After the end of the Second World War in the 1950s, regional organizations have been
expanding across the world to promote economic development, peace, and stability. To achieve
these objectives, regional organizations have adopted economic cooperation and regional
integration as a useful approach. Based on this rationale, IGAD was established in 1986 to
mitigate the major threats to sustainable development in the Horn of Africa region, such as
desertification and drought. Moreover, the treaty and institutional reforms that took place
between 1986 and 2023 have given IGAD an extended mandate to coordinate and promote
economic cooperation and regional integration initiatives between member states. Despite its
relevance, however, IGAD couldn’t advance economic cooperation and regional integration in
the Horn of Africa. The Horn of Africa has been exemplified as the least integrated region in
Africa. Therefore, the principal objective of this dissertation is to critically examine the causes
of institutional dynamics and challenges of regional integration in the Horn of Africa since
1986, with a particular reference to IGAD. Specifically, the study explores the domestic,
regional, and global factors that affect IGAD’s evolution and development; the nature of
IGAD’s legal and institutional frameworks for regional integration; the impact of international
infrastructure intervention, particularly Chinese infrastructure investment, on the outcome of
regional integration; and the linkages between member states’ institutional stability and
regional integration. To scientifically investigate these specific objectives, the study employed
a qualitative case study design by combining both primary and secondary data. Primary data
were generated by using key informant interviews and participant observations during several
national and international conference engagements. In addition, an extensive analysis of
documents, such as policy papers, protocols, IGAD treaty documents, reports, books, journal
articles, unpublished theses, and media in both print and non-print formats, was employed to
collect secondary data. The triangulation of these primary and secondary data sources provides
a comprehensive understanding of the causes of IGAD’s institutional dynamics and its
integration challenges and indicates the subsequent findings. The study reveals that IGAD’s
treaty and institutional reforms between 1986 and 2023 have been constrained by an
intertwined and complex domestic, regional, and global factors. The study further reveals
critical gaps in IGAD’s legal and institutional frameworks that have undermined its capacity
to successfully implement integration initiatives in the Horn of Africa. Moreover, the study
highlights that the existence of weak alignment between international infrastructure
intervention, particularly Chinese-led infrastructure investments, and regional integration
initiatives has limited the potential of its physical infrastructure investments in integrating the
IGAD region. In addition, the study finds that the fragility and political instability of member
states have immensely hindered the efforts of IGAD in advancing economic cooperation and
regional integration in the Horn of Africa. Therefore, these findings contribute knowledge in
the existing literature to better understand the causes of IGAD’s institutional dynamics and its
integration challenges.
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Keywords
Regional Integration, Institutional Dynamics, Treaty Reforms, Legal-Institutional frameworks, Infrastructure Intervention, State Fragility, IGAD, Horn of Africa