Summary

Relations among the states making up West Africa have endured over the years. It has passed through the phases of precolonial, colonial, and postcolonial. Each phase has its own dynamics. Shortly after the attainment of independence, political leaders in West Africa felt the need for more integration and unity to confront the major problems of underdevelopment and conflict bedeviling the region. This led to the formation of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) as a regional platform to address the problems. However, the contemporary time has brought more challenges, which include terrorism, climate change, migration, the trafficking of humans and drugs, corruption, violent conflicts, money laundering, and health issues. These new problems demand decisive, collective, and robust interventions. ECOWAS, as a regional organization, was found adapting to these new challenges, and re-engineering itself, thereby making it an important institution to focus on when interrogating relations in West Africa. Some of the interventions and responses to the challenges operate in the form of protocols and the establishment of agencies within ECOWAS. In addition, there is a noticeable incursion of China into the region, mostly as a development partner and a provider of soft loans. This has tended to influence the foreign policies of several states in the region. Despite the various intervening efforts, several of the problems facing the region remain largely unsolved. The issues of language barriers, violent conflict, vestiges of colonial rule, vested external interests, and a lack of strong institutions are some of the obstacles undermining the pace of bilateral and multilateral relations among the states and the drives toward development in the subregion.