Call for Papers: The African Union and New Strategies for Development in Africa, 12/03

CODESRIA-DPMF Collaborative International Conference

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 1-3 December 2003

Theme: The African Union and New Strategies for Development in Africa

Call for Papers

The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) and the Development Policy Management Forum (DPMF) invite the scholarly community and policy intellectuals to send in abstracts of papers for consideration for presentation at an international conference which will be hosted in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 1-3 December 2003. The theme of the conference is designed to focus attention on the African Union (AU) and the (new) strategies for African development which have been pursued in recent times. Within this broad umbrella theme, participants will be invited to explore various aspects of the challenges of development facing the African continent, the role of continental structures like the AU in rising to the challenges, and the alternatives which are available for future action. For this purpose, a number of research papers will be made available to participants who will consist of a mixed group of academics, policy makers, international civil servants and civil society activists. A special session will also be held at which the results from the 2002 CODESRIA Governance Institute on Challenges to the Nation-State in Africa will be presented.  

From the time of its creation in 1963, the defunct Organisation of African Unity (OAU) invested a considerable amount of energy in the task of promoting inter-state and cross-regional cooperation among African countries in the fields of foreign policy, science and technology, culture, education, and economic affairs. It was, however, only in 1973 that economic issues and broad development questions came to the front burner following the adoption of the Declaration on Cooperation, Development and Economic Independence by the Summit of Heads of State and Government. That declaration fully propelled the OAU into the domain of  African economic development, a process which later set the stage for the adoption in 1980 of the bold, if still-born Lagos Plan of Action. The OAU also worked with other international organisations, most notably the United Nations, to focus attention on the developmental challenges facing the countries of the continent. Perhaps the most significant meeting which emanated from this effort was the special session of the United Nations which was devoted to a discussion of Africa's economic and developmental problems and which culminated in the adoption of a number of initiatives, including the Millennium Development Goals (MDG).

More recently, a tremendous amount of energy has been devoted to the promotion of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) which is presented as a project of African heads of state and government for the rapid transformation of the continent within the overall ambit of the African Union. NEPAD, when it was launched, was heralded as the most important developmental initiative to emerge from the African continent in at least two decades; its adoption occurred at about the same time as the OAU was being transformed into the AU. It was also heralded as part of a new determination to extend the boundaries and deepen the content of sub-regional cooperation on the continent as part of a march towards a full African economic union/common market in the course of the first half of the 21st century. Furthermore, the strong accent on the detrimental impact of conflicts on the developmental prospects of Africa and the apparent determination to turn the table of instability were key underlying considerations in the design of the AU and NEPAD. Clearly, the decade ahead promises to be dominated as much by developmental questions as by anything else and the AU is expected to play an important frontline role. For this reason, it seems appropriate, just as the AU is beginning to establish its key structures following the July 2003 Maputo Summit, that a stock-taking and prospective reflection should be undertaken on continental strategies for promoting development and the challenges which they pose.

Among the sub-themes for which abstracts for papers are being invited are:  

Development Strategies;
Initiatives Promoted by the defunct OAU, 1963 - 2002;

NEPAD: A New Strategy for African Development?;

NEPAD and the AU: Synergies or Competition?;

The Challenges of Managing African Development:

Can Development be Managed at the Continental Level?;

The Experience of Managing Development at the Sub-Regional Level through the Regional Economic Communities (RECs);

The Challenges of Synchronising National Development with a Sub-Regional and Continental Strategy;

Alternative Development Strategies available to the AU.

All those interested in participating in the conference are invited to send a one-page abstract not later than 30 September 2003. If the abstract is selected, the author will be required to prepare a paper of 20 pages which should be received not later than 15 October 2003. Those whose papers are accepted will be invited to participate in the conference and their travel and living costs will be fully covered by CODESRIA and DPMF. Abstracts and papers should be sent to:

Martha Kebede,            or     Virginie Niang,

DPMF, UNECA/DMD,              CODESRIA,

P.O. Box 3001,                      BP: 3304, Dakar, Sénégal

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia           Fax: (221) 824.12.89

Fax: (251) 1-5 15410.           E-mail : virginie.niang@codesria.sn

E-mail: dpmf@uneca.org