Abstract:
From 1960, many African countries gained their independence but remained largely fragile politically, economically and militarily. West African states which are generally part of this dynamic will quickly perceive the strategic need to regroup within a supranational organization with a regional dimension. It is therefore with this in mind that ECOWAS will be created on May 28, 1975 in Lagos, Nigeria and with the objective of promoting cooperation and integration in the economic, social and cultural domain, with a view to achieving an economic union and monetary through the total integration of the national economies of the Member States. This integration of the West African region is presented as a political, economic, social and cultural process aimed at bringing together the States and communities that make up the West African space. It is also intended to be a process that is both methodical and technical, calling on a high level of proven expertise in various areas concerning the West African space to be integrated and whose communities will be linked by relationships of dependence and interdependence. After decades of governance, ECOWAS today seems to be on the edge of the precipice. Undermined by the multiplication of centers of tension, the rise in power of terrorist movements and their ramifications, the resurgence of coups d'état and the tendency of foreign powers to interfere in the internal affairs of member states, ECOWAS is not so far from scuttling. The creation of the Alliance of Sahel States is a perfect harbinger of this scuttling. Using a sociometric approach, the author provides a sociographic description of the evolution of the geopolitical and geostrategic context of the region. In a diachronic and synchronic style, he positions himself, through this article, in the debate on the structural and institutional dynamics of ECOWAS. An invitation to readers to take a satirical look at the functioning of this regional economic community of the African Union. The AESexit declared on January 28, 2024 is very similar to Brexit. Self-determination for the AES and a challenge to the governance of ECOWAS which implode the destination community within the region.
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