Contemporary Regional Development in Africa

Kobena T. Hanson is an academic and development practitioner with over 20 year’s hands-on experience. He currently is Chief Executive Officer of Strategic Outlooks, a research consulting and policy advisory firm in Accra, Ghana; and a member of the management team at Causal Links, Washington, D.C., USA. From 2010-2014, he was Head, Knowledge & Learning, African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF)/lead author of the Africa Capacity Indicators (ACI) Report. Prior to this, he was Assistant Professor of Geography and Planning at West Virginia University, Morgantown, USA. His focus includes development policy, capacity building, knowledge management and livelihood issues. He has researched on these topics in several African countries and authored several books, journal articles, book chapters, and reports. He holds a PhD from Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.

• Chapter 1 Contemporary Regional Development in Africa, Kobena T.Hanson, Vanessa T.Tang; Chapter 2 Regionalism, Globalization and Economic Integration in Africa, Korbla P.Puplampu; Chapter 3 “New” Regionalisms in Africa, PeterArthur; Chapter 4 Micro-regionalisms in Africa, JonUnruh; Chapter 5 The Impact of Informal Cross-border Trade on Regionalism and Poverty Reduction in West Africa, BarassouDiawara, Kwabena AgyeiBoakye; Chapter 6 Enhancing Regionalism for Intra-African and African Inward Foreign Direct Investment, Abbi M.Kedir; Chapter 7 Infrastructure and Capacity Development as a Catalyst for Regionalism and Economic Integration in Africa, Kobena T.Hanson, FrancisOwusu, Korbla P.Puplampu; Chapter 8 Innovation, Science and Technology, Joseph R.Oppong; Chapter 9 Regional Value Chains and Productivity Enhancement in Africa, William G.Moseley; Chapter 10 The Boko Haram Insurgency and the Changing Patterns of Regional Security Arrangements in Africa, OlawaleIsmail; afterword Afterword“African Agency” to Maximize the Continent’s Policy Choices after a Decade of the BRICS, Timothy M.Shaw;

’At a time when regionalism seems increasingly caught between micro-regional initiatives and mega-regional negotiations, this timely discussion of contemporary regional development in Africa helps to clarify the issues involved. The thematic approach adopted by Kobena Hanson and his co-authors ensures a systematic discussion of the stakes associated with the shift from new regionalism towards twenty-first-century regionalism.’ Daniel Bach, University of Bordeaux, France ’African leaders, scholars and informed citizens see deeper regional integration as the pathway to a more secure and prosperous future. This book, balancing theory and practice, and drawing on different disciplines and regions, provides valuable, and at times controversial, contributions as to how different regional integration arrangements - from the new regionalism to micro-regionalism - may improve the facilitation of human interactions as well as economic productivity and exchanges across borders so as to improve the overall African human condition.’ Moses N. Kiggundu, Carleton University, Canada