scholarly journals International public administration on the tip of the tongue: language as a feature of representative bureaucracy in the Economic Community of West African States

2021 ◽  
pp. 002085232098623
Author(s):  
Zuzana Murdoch ◽  
Magali Gravier ◽  
Stefan Gänzle
Keyword(s):  
International Organizations ◽  
West African ◽  
Representative Bureaucracy ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Economic Community ◽  
Regional Organizations ◽  
Member States ◽  
Language Representation ◽  
National Representation ◽  
Bureaucracy Theory

Recent scholarship shows increasing interest in gender, ethnic or national representation within regional and international organizations. In contrast, language as a criterion of representation has rarely been scrutinized. We argue that this constitutes an important oversight for two reasons: (1) language is an important identity marker; and (2) language regimes in international public administrations can uniquely address representativeness relative to both member states and groups of citizens. Our article explores language representation in the Economic Community of West African States, and pursues a twofold objective: first, it extends the applicability of representative bureaucracy theory to the issue of language; and, second, it broadens the scope of representative bureaucracy studies by providing the first study on a prominent West African regional organization. As such, we develop avenues for future research on other regional and international organizations. Points for practitioners The article is of particular relevance for managers in multilingual international and regional organizations. Organizations tend to overlook the role and impact of languages on their functioning, often considering them as a technicality. Taking the example of the Economic Community of West African States, the article argues that linguistic regimes are important for the performance and the legitimacy of the organization in terms of acceptance by both citizens and its member states.

The Economic Community of West African States

2020 ◽  
pp. 187-203
Author(s):  
Frank Schimmelfennig ◽  
Thomas Winzen ◽  
Tobias Lenz ◽  
Jofre Rocabert ◽  
Loriana Crasnic ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Community Building ◽  
West African ◽  
International Organization ◽  
Economic Community ◽  
Regional Organizations ◽  
Pan African ◽  
African Community ◽  
Treaty Reform

This chapter examines the international parliamentarization of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). ECOWAS was founded in 1975 without an international parliamentary institution (IPI). An IPI was only created in 1993 in the context of general treaty reform. In particular, the democratization process in the region, the promotion of pan-African community building and the example of other successful regional organizations motivated the initiative for an ECOWAS Parliament. Moreover, the ECOWAS Parliament represents an attempt by elites to strengthen the links between the international organization and the citizens. However, the ECOWAS Parliament took until 2001 to become operational and did not have legislative functions until 2017.

Regional Organizations

2019 ◽  
pp. 36-67
Author(s):  
Tan Hsien-Li
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Asia Pacific ◽  
Regional Organizations ◽  
Member States ◽  
Regional Institutions ◽  
History Of ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter examines the relationship that Asia-Pacific regional and sub-regional organizations have with international law, looking at seven international organizations that span the region. It is commonly believed that the member states of Asia-Pacific regional organizations prefer less formalized institutions and fewer binding commitments. Conventional reasons for this include their history of colonialism, less legalistic and formalized cultures, and a preference for stricter conceptions of sovereignty. As such, their organizations are often perceived as less effective. However, the effectiveness of Asia-Pacific regional institutions should not be judged by one uniform standard. Instead they should be judged on their own definition of effectiveness. There should be a broader understanding that Asia-Pacific states consciously use and participate in their regional organizations differently than in other regions, and they may prefer less institutionalized models as these serve their purposes better and can still be successful.

Creating Space for Public Administration in International Organization Studies

2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 227-243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kim Moloney ◽  
David H. Rosenbloom
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
Global Governance ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Due Process ◽  
International Organization ◽  
Representative Bureaucracy ◽  
Modern State ◽  
Organization Studies ◽  
Regional Organizations ◽  
Administrative Theory

The emergent global administrative order includes more than 800 international and regional organizations. Just as the rise of the modern state placed greater importance on the study of public administration, the growth of multistate organizations, their agendas, and personnel require research that draws upon contemporary and classical public administrative thought. This article employs multiple lenses to explore the utility of public administrative theory and empirically based knowledge in analyzing the behavior of international and regional organizations. Specifically, while remaining cognizant of differences between international organizations and sovereign states, we consider the utility of the politics–administration dichotomy, representative bureaucracy, individual and employee due process and other rights, and broader questions of accountability in understanding the administrative life and influence of international organizations in global governance.

West African regional bloc faces harmonisation tests

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
West African ◽  
Economic Community ◽  
Member States ◽  
Content Type

Subject ECOWAS tests. Significance Recent elections across the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have been marred by violence and fraud allegations, and fresh constitutional crises abound. While trade harmonisation efforts are gaining traction, obstacles to implementation persist. Impacts The multiplicity of trade arrangements being negotiated by ECOWAS member states will likely slow the process of trade harmonisation. There will be heightened scrutiny of Senegal’s December local polls after recent electoral disputes and increasing centralisation of power. While most of Togo's opposition will participate in local polls this month, growing disunity could sidetrack its efforts to oust Gnassingbe.

Enforcing ECOWAS Law in West African National Courts

2011 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
ES Nwauche
Keyword(s):  
Regional Integration ◽  
West African ◽  
Legal Systems ◽  
Economic Community ◽  
The West ◽  
Member States ◽  
Community Law ◽  
National Courts ◽  
The Law

AbstractOne of the constitutional challenges of regional integration is how to manage the limitation of national judicial sovereignty of member states to ensure that community law is recognized as superior to national law and is accordingly applied and interpreted by national courts at the instance of community citizens. This challenge arises from the national ordering of legal systems and the fact that states are the primary parties to agreements in which they limit their sovereignty in favour of the success of the community. This article examines the enforceability of the law of the Economic Community of West African States in the national courts of the West African states which comprise ECOWAS, with the aim of determining how this affects the integration goals of ECOWAS.

scholarly journals The Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States as a Constitutional Court

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kangnikoé Bado
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
West African ◽  
Legal Order ◽  
Constitutional Court ◽  
Economic Community ◽  
Constitutional Courts ◽  
Member States ◽  
Constitutional Order ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
Innovative Solutions

One of the major innovations made by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is the unequivocal granting of a supranational role to the Court of Justice of the organisation. However, its human rights mandate has led to real and potential tensions within the ECOWAS legal order. The tensions stem from the legal force of judgments of constitutional courts of member states and the admissibility of individual petitions before the Court. This work identifies some deficiencies in the current regime of the human rights mandate of the Court. Gaps exist at the level of the member states’ constitutional order, as well as at the community level. The supranational competence of the jurisdiction must be implemented by the possibility of ordering concrete measures to be taken by states for the reparation of human rights violations. Innovative solutions are suggested in this work in order to fill procedural and substantial gaps in the protection system established in West Africa.

Authoritarian Regionalism in the World of International Organizations

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anastassia V. Obydenkova ◽  
Alexander Libman
Keyword(s):  
International Organizations ◽  
World Wide ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Regional Organizations ◽  
Member States ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
The World ◽  
Important Addition ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Trade Conflicts

The post-Cold War world has witnessed the extensive development of regional international organizations world-wide. The realtionship between their membership and democratization remains a topic of intense scholarly debate. This book opens up a new aspect of the debate by examining regional organization as set up by autocracies (e.g. Iran, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Russia, and China)—referring to them as “non-democratic regional organizations.” How do these newly emerged organizations counteract and confront the democratization process in their own member states and beyond their borders? How and why do the political regimes, the economic development and the cultures of their member states impac the foundation and development of these organizations? What influence do these organizations have on migration, trade, conflicts, and democratization? The book addresses these questions by developing a new theory of authoritarian regionalism. Employing quantitative analysis of authoritarian regionalism world-wide and its historical development since the 1950s, as well as analysing case studies of post-Soviet Eurasia, the book argues that authoritarian regionalism is a new phenomenon in world politics and that modern non-democratic organizations differ from their historical predecessors and that their influence has radically increased in terms of geographic scope and intensity in the last few years. As such, authoritarian regionalism is an important addition to studies of comparative regionalism and the international dimension of authoritarianism. From the policy perspective, non-democratic regional organizations pose a challenge for Western actors in promoting democracy around the world.

Regional Organizations’ Relations with International Institutions

2019 ◽  
pp. 446-464
Author(s):  
Joris Larik
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Regional Integration ◽  
International Institutions ◽  
Legal Person ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Regional Organizations ◽  
Member States ◽  
Asean Member ◽  
External Relations

This chapter compares the law and practice of regional organizations regarding their engagement with international institutions. This includes treaty-making, joining and participating in international organizations, and the question to which extent member states are being replaced by their regional organizations. The chapter uses the European Union and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) as case studies given that they represent two radically different forms of regional integration. While the former is a case of deep, supranational sovereignty-pooling, the latter is an example of distinctly sovereignty-friendly intergovernmental cooperation. Both ASEAN and the European Union have codified sets of internal norms for conducting their external relations. Both are avid treaty-makers and interact systematically with international institutions. However, this chapter explains how the difference in the organizations’ internal modes of operation translates into different approaches in their external relations. The European Union’s highly formalized approach leads to taking on a state-like position in many situations, but without always replacing its member states. By contrast, ASEAN’s sensitivity toward national sovereignty results in its member states and the Association never appearing together. It is always either one or the other that engages internationally. ASEAN member states interact with other powers, whereas ASEAN as a legal person interacts with other international organizations, with the one exception—the European Union.

SOURCES OF THE LAW OF THE ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS)

2001 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sunday Babalola Ajulo
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
Economic Integration ◽  
West African ◽  
Economic Community ◽  
Member States ◽  
Community Court ◽  
Legal Problems ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
The Law

Articles 6(e) and 15(1–4) of the ECOWAS Revised Treaty (1993) provide for the establishment of a Court of Justice of the Community. These provisions should, however, be read along with those of the Protocol on the Community Court of Justice initialled in 1991. Attempts have been made to analyse various aspects of the institutions of the Community, including the Court of Justice. While Bankole Thompson examined the legal problems of the economic integration in West Africa, Kofi Oteng Kufuor attempted to look at the Court of Justice from the angle of compliance with its judgments by member states. Denakin, for his part, appraised generally the prospects of the Court.

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