Regionalism and African agency: negotiating an Economic Partnership Agreement between the European Union and SADC-Minus

Peg Murray-Evans

doi:10.1080/01436597.2015.1071659

Regionalism and African agency: negotiating an Economic Partnership Agreement between the European Union and SADC-Minus

Peg Murray-Evans

Politics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

This article investigates the regional dynamics of African agency in the case of negotiations for an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between the EU and a group of Southern African countries, known as SADC-Minus. I argue that these negotiations were shaped by a pattern of differentiated responses to the choice set on offer under the EPAs by SADC-Minus policymakers and by a series of strategic interactions and power plays between them. I offer two contributions to an emerging literature on the role of African agency in international politics. First, I argue for a clear separation between ontological claims about the structure-agency relationship and empirical questions about the preferences, strategies and influence of African actors. Second, I suggest that in order to understand the regional dynamics of African agency it is important to pay close attention to the diversity and contingency of African preferences and to the role of both power politics and rhetorical contestation in regional political processes.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1845-1865
Journal	Third World Quarterly
Volume	36
Issue number	10
Early online date	27 Aug 2015
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/01436597.2015.1071659
Publication status	Published - 2015

Bibliographical note

This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for details. Embargo period: 18 months

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Cite this

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