ECOWAS AND FIVE DECADES OF IMPOTENCE

Abstract

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), established in 1975, was envisioned as a driver of regional integration, economic development, and collective security. Yet, five decades later, the organization remains largely ineffective in fulfilling its founding aspirations. This paper interrogates the impotence of ECOWAS by critically assessing its economic, political, and security performance. Despite having a framework of treaties, protocols, and ambitious declarations, the organization has struggled with weak institutional capacity, overreliance on external actors, and the sovereignty-centered politics of member states. Methodologically, this study employs a qualitative historical analysis of ECOWAS protocols, policy documents, and secondary academic sources, supported by comparative case studies of its interventions in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Mali, and Niger. The findings suggest that ECOWAS’s recurrent failures emanate from structural contradictions: while integration demands supranational authority, West African political elites remain unwilling to relinquish sovereignty. The paper concludes that unless ECOWAS undertakes radical reforms to enhance financial independence, enforcement mechanisms, and grassroots legitimacy, it risks further irrelevance in a region plagued by coups, terrorism, and economic stagnation.