Unconstitutional changes, especially coups d’états, have undoubtedly eroded peace and security in many parts of the African continent. These occurrences have also stunted the development of democracy in some African states. The African Union (AU), supported by sub-regional bodies, addresses this problem by imposing sanctions on the regimes that acquire power through coups with the aim of restoring political order. However, this sanctions policy has produced mixed results. In some cases, these sanctions managed to succeed in achieving their objectives (Guinea) while in other instances sanctions failed to achieve their objectives (Madagascar). It is therefore imperative to inquire into the circumstances and assess the conditions under which the AU sanctions policies failed and succeeded in restoring political order to states that experience coups d’états. / Political Sciences / M.A. (International Politics)

The essence of this thesis is to explore the role of Nigeria, West Africa's hegemon, in the intervention efforts by the Economic Community of West African states (ECOWAS) through its Cease-fire Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) in both Liberia (1990-1997) and Sierra Leone (1993-2000). While the thesis has sought to understand the leading role played by Nigeria in first establishing the ECOWAS and being the primus motor for its functions, I have also attempted to analyse the rationalities for the transformation of ECOWAS from a purely economic integrative scheme to a security organisation. While the economic agendas for ECOWAS have not changed, the argument in this thesis is that security related issues and realities have taken precedence over the original economistic agendas. One of the thesis' major arguments is that the nature of results attained in both Liberia and Sierra Leone are different because of (a) the leadership role of Nigeria and (b) the nature of international responses and contributions to the resolution of these conflicts. In the thesis, I argue that in the Liberian case, Nigeria took a more domineering leadership role albeit tinged with the characteristics of the actions of a benevolent hegemon. Here, Nigeria through different processes either through leadership, consensus-seeking processes and dialogue managed to get other ECOWAS states to coalesce around its leadership. However, in Sierra Leone, Nigeria's leadership role was not permitted to unfold. The resultant effect was the shift from NIFAG to ECOMOG and eventually "rekindling hatred" of these troops as UN troops. This thesis has pointed to the utility of sub-regional organisations in resolving conflicts and demonstrates the need for further study. / Political Science / DLITT ET PHIL (INT POL)

The thesis examines the comprehensive relationship between all aspects of financial liberalisation and economic growth in three countries from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Employing ARDL bounds test approach and real GDP per capita as growth indicator; the thesis finds support in favour of the McKinnon-Shaw hypothesis but also finds that the increases in the subsequent savings and investments have not been transmitted into economic growth in two of the studied countries. Moreover, the thesis also finds that stock market developments have negligible or negative impact on economic growth in two of the selected countries. The thesis concludes that in most cases, it is not financial liberalisation polices that affect economic growth in the selected ECOWAS countries, but rather increase in the productivity of labour, increase in the credit to the private sector, increase in foreign direct investments, increase in the capital stock and increase in government expenditure contrary to expectations. Interestingly, the thesis also finds that export has only negative effect on economic growth in all the selected ECOWAS countries. The thesis therefore, recommends that long-term export diversification programmes be implemented in the ECOWAS regions whilst further investigation is carried on the issue. / Economic Sciences / D. Litt et Phil. (Economics)

The study utilizes regional integration theories like neo-functionalism, intergovernmentalism and new regionalism to analyse the formation, structure and transformation of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). It examines the role of ECOWAS as a sub-regional economic body and its transformation to a political and security body dealing with sub-regional conflict resolution. Though neo-functionalism is generally analysed in reference to European regional integration, the study attempts to draw some lessons from this theory. Also, new regionalism theory is utilized to examine the transformation of ECOWAS from a mere economic body to a security and political entity. Regionalism in West Africa was initially geared towards mere economic cooperation; however, the emergence of ECOWAS on the scene and its subsequent transformation witnessed several changes towards the path of security cooperation. Despite its involvement with the gigantic political and security related activities, a general evaluation of economic integration in West Africa depicts a low level of progress. The poor state of sub-regional economic integration shows that ECOWAS did not complete its regional economic integration agenda before diverting to other sectors of integration. ECOWAS peacekeeping operations have been the dominant topic in sub-regional conflict resolution in West Africa. However, other forms of conflict resolution, including mediation, negotiation, conciliation and arbitration have been severally utilized. Also, in some of the cases, peacekeeping operations have been deployed only after other peaceful efforts have failed. ECOWAS peacekeeping operations are divergent operations with different forms and mandates. Therefore, they are better analysed under the framework of peacekeeping, peace-enforcement and peace-making theories. ECOWAS peacekeeping operations have been a subject of debate by proponents of the principle of non-interference and those of the responsibility to protect. The expediency of military intervention for humanitarian reasons as well as the prevention of genocide, war crimes and catastrophic loss of lives has questioned the principle of non-interference and validated the principle of responsibility to protect. / Political Sciences / D. Litt. et Phil. (International Politics)

Cette thèse s’intéresse au rôle du Ciblage d’inflation (CI) et des règles budgétaires (RBs), ainsi qu’à celui de leurs interactions, sur l’environnement macroéconomique. Après avoir posé les bases conceptuelles et empiriques de ces deux cadres de politique basés sur des règles (Chapitre 1), la thèse met en évidence de nouveaux résultats relatifs à leurs conséquences macroéconomiques. Premièrement, l’adoption du CI permet d’attirer plus d’investissements directs étrangers dans les pays en développement (Chapitre 2). Deuxièmement, dans ces pays, l’adoption du CI incite fortement les gouvernements à entreprendre des réformes destinées à améliorer la qualité des institutions (Chapitre 3). Troisièmement, l’introduction des RBs numériques au niveau national constitue un remède crédible contre l’indiscipline budgétaire, surtout dans les pays politiquement stables et avec un grand nombre de RBs en place. Mais cet effet disciplinaire des RBs diminue avec la durée de temps consécutive à leur adoption et est affaibli en présence de RBs supranationales et dans les pays à gouvernement fragmenté. Plus intéressant, cet effet varie en fonction du type de règles : tandis que les règles de solde budgétaire et les règles de dépense exercent un effet disciplinaire sur la conduite de la politique budgétaire, l’effet des règles de dette s’avère statistiquement non significatif (Chapitre 4). Les trois derniers chapitres de la thèse analysent le rôle de l’interaction entre le CI et les RBs, et dans une plus grande mesure de l’interaction entre les autorités monétaires et budgétaires. Le premier résultat qui en découle est que le CI, qui est un cadre de conduite de la politique monétaire, s’avère aussi suffisamment contraignant pour les autorités budgétaires de sorte à les inciter fortement à améliorer la discipline budgétaire, notamment dans les pays en développement (Chapitre 5). Par ailleurs, d’une part, le CI et les RBs agissent de façon complémentaire, puisqu’adopter à la fois le CI et les Rbs conduit à de meilleurs résultats budgétaires et inflationnistes qu’adopter seulement l’un ou l’autre de ces deux cadres de politique. D’autre part, la séquence qui consiste à introduire d’abord les RBs avant d’adopter le CI produit de meilleures performances inflationnistes et budgétaires que la séquence inverse (Chapitre 6). Finalement, une meilleure cohérence du Policy-Mix, c'est-À-Dire une meilleure coordination des politiques monétaire et budgétaire conduit à une plus grande croissance économique dans la Communauté Economique des Etats de l’Afrique de l’Ouest (CEDEAO) (Chapitre 7). / This thesis is concerned with the role of Inflation Targeting (IT) and Fiscal Rules (FRs), as well as of their interactions, on macroeconomic environment. After laying the conceptual and empirical backgrounds of both these rules-Based policy frameworks (Chapter 1), the dissertation highlights new evidence on their macroeconomic consequences. First, IT adoption does help attracting more Foreign Direct Investment into Developing Countries (Chapter 2). Second, inthese countries, IT adoption provides strong incentives for governments to undertake reforms designed to improve the quality of institutions (Chapter 3). Third, the introduction of national-Level numerical FRs does stand as a credible remedy against fiscal indiscipline in these countries, all the more in politically stable economies and where the numberof FRs in place is important. But this discipline-Enhancing effect of FRs decreases with the time length since their adoption, and is weakened in the presence of supranational rules and in countries with more fragmented government. Interestingly, this effect varies with the type of rules: while Budget Balance Rules and Expenditure Rules have significant disciplineenhancing effects, the effect of Debt Rules proved not significantly different from zero (Chapter 4). The last three chapters of the thesis focus on the role of the interaction between IT and FRs, and to a broader extent, on the interplay between monetary and fiscal authorities. The first result that emerges is that IT, which is a framework for conducting monetary policy, proves also sufficiently binding for fiscal authorities to providing them with strong incentives for improving fiscal discipline, notably in developing countries (Chapter 5). In addition, on the one hand, IT and FRs act complementarily, as adopting both IT and FRs leads to better results in terms of running fiscal surpluses and in terms of bringing down average inflation than adopting only one of these two frameworks. On the other hand, the sequence which consists of introducing FRs first before adopting IT yields better inflationary and fiscal performances than the opposite sequence (Chapter 6). Finally, better Policy Mix coherence, that is, better coordination between monetary and fiscal policies, is conducive to higher economic growth in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) (Chapter 7).

La question territoriale et celle de la régionalisation sont devenues deux paradigmes centraux tant pour les pouvoirs politiques que pour les spécialistes des sciences humaines et sociales. En Afrique, le croisement de ces deux réalités renvoie inévitablement aux territoires, aux identités, aux Etats, à la mondialisation et au développement de phénomènes nouveaux (trans-nationalisation). Pour les chercheurs, l’étude de ces phénomènes soulève toute une batterie de préoccupations conceptuelles et méthodologiques, alors que pour les décideurs, elle renvoie à des enjeux géopolitiques et à des opportunités économiques. Dans la question territoriale, les soucis de mise en ordre sont traduits par les politiques d’aménagement du territoire dit « communautaire », et ceux de responsabilité et de libertés sont incarnés par les politiques de libre circulation des personnes et biens avec comme force politique, l’harmonisation des normes. Pour ce qui est des processus de régionalisation, la question des échelles d’intervention et des modèles à promouvoir est plus que préoccupante après l’échec de ce qui est appelé intégration par le haut. Les bouleversements socio-économiques dans l’Afrique contemporaine poussent les sociétés à effectuer un lien nouveau entre les situations locales et globales sans passer par l’étape autrefois nécessaire du national. Ce sont là deux dimensions spatiales que l’on retrouve parfaitement en Afrique de l’ouest à la fois espace morcelé et espace d’intégration avancée. Les Rivières du Sud sont un territoire où les espaces frontaliers jouent ce rôle économique et social plus que politique. Dès lors l’activité socio-économique peut-elle entraîner le politique ? Les espaces frontaliers, par ailleurs de riches capharnaüms, regroupant une multitude d’acteurs, jouent ce rôle. La frontière en elle-même est en constante mutation. Les changements qu’elle subit sont de divers ordres : social, économique, politique et même géographique. Le commerce, les mouvements, les liens sociaux et culturels constituent les éléments factuels à la base de la décomposition de l’objet spatial frontière. Ils forment des invariants qui, empiriquement s’observent en premier. La synergie entre les réseaux et les territorialités qui en découlent est un avantage pour le commerce et la régionalisation par le bas. Mais l’aménagement du territoire et la coopération transfrontalière qui constituent le lien entre les différentes entités sont encore embryonnaires. / The territorial and regionalization question become two central paradigms for the political powers and the specialists of the human and social sciences. In Africa, the link between these two realities refers inevitably to territories, identities, States, globalization and to the development of news phenomena (trans-nationalization). For the researchers, the study of these phenomena raises a whole series of conceptual and methodological preoccupations, while for the decision-makers; it refers to geopolitical and economic opportunities. In the territorial question, the arrangement worries are translated by town and country planning policies known under the name of "communitary", and those of responsibility and liberties are traduced by the policies of free movement of people and goods, the harmonization of the standards. In terms of regionalization processes, the question of the scales and models of intervention to be promoted is more than alarming after the failure of what is called integration from the bottom. The socioeconomic changes in contemporary Africa lead societies to do make new link between the local and global situations without crossing by the formerly necessary national stage. These are two spatial dimensions that are found perfectly in western Africa, both fragmented and advanced integration space. Africa is also a continent where the border areas play important economic and social role more than political one. Can the socio-economic activity consequently involve the policy? Border areas which are also rich shambles, grouping a multitude of actors, play this role. The border itself is in constant transformation. The changes which it undergoes are of different levels: social, economic, political and even geographical. Trade, movements, social and cultural links are the factual elements that cause the decomposition of the border. They are invariants that are empirically observed first. The synergy between networks and the territorialities is an advantage for trade and regionalization from below.

The essence of this thesis is to explore the role of Nigeria, West Africa's hegemon, in the intervention efforts by the Economic Community of West African states (ECOWAS) through its Cease-fire Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) in both Liberia (1990-1997) and Sierra Leone (1993-2000). While the thesis has sought to understand the leading role played by Nigeria in first establishing the ECOWAS and being the primus motor for its functions, I have also attempted to analyse the rationalities for the transformation of ECOWAS from a purely economic integrative scheme to a security organisation. While the economic agendas for ECOWAS have not changed, the argument in this thesis is that security related issues and realities have taken precedence over the original economistic agendas. One of the thesis' major arguments is that the nature of results attained in both Liberia and Sierra Leone are different because of (a) the leadership role of Nigeria and (b) the nature of international responses and contributions to the resolution of these conflicts. In the thesis, I argue that in the Liberian case, Nigeria took a more domineering leadership role albeit tinged with the characteristics of the actions of a benevolent hegemon. Here, Nigeria through different processes either through leadership, consensus-seeking processes and dialogue managed to get other ECOWAS states to coalesce around its leadership. However, in Sierra Leone, Nigeria's leadership role was not permitted to unfold. The resultant effect was the shift from NIFAG to ECOMOG and eventually "rekindling hatred" of these troops as UN troops. This thesis has pointed to the utility of sub-regional organisations in resolving conflicts and demonstrates the need for further study. / Political Science / DLITT ET PHIL (INT POL)

The study utilizes regional integration theories like neo-functionalism, intergovernmentalism and new regionalism to analyse the formation, structure and transformation of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). It examines the role of ECOWAS as a sub-regional economic body and its transformation to a political and security body dealing with sub-regional conflict resolution. Though neo-functionalism is generally analysed in reference to European regional integration, the study attempts to draw some lessons from this theory. Also, new regionalism theory is utilized to examine the transformation of ECOWAS from a mere economic body to a security and political entity. Regionalism in West Africa was initially geared towards mere economic cooperation; however, the emergence of ECOWAS on the scene and its subsequent transformation witnessed several changes towards the path of security cooperation. Despite its involvement with the gigantic political and security related activities, a general evaluation of economic integration in West Africa depicts a low level of progress. The poor state of sub-regional economic integration shows that ECOWAS did not complete its regional economic integration agenda before diverting to other sectors of integration. ECOWAS peacekeeping operations have been the dominant topic in sub-regional conflict resolution in West Africa. However, other forms of conflict resolution, including mediation, negotiation, conciliation and arbitration have been severally utilized. Also, in some of the cases, peacekeeping operations have been deployed only after other peaceful efforts have failed. ECOWAS peacekeeping operations are divergent operations with different forms and mandates. Therefore, they are better analysed under the framework of peacekeeping, peace-enforcement and peace-making theories. ECOWAS peacekeeping operations have been a subject of debate by proponents of the principle of non-interference and those of the responsibility to protect. The expediency of military intervention for humanitarian reasons as well as the prevention of genocide, war crimes and catastrophic loss of lives has questioned the principle of non-interference and validated the principle of responsibility to protect. / Political Sciences / D. Litt. et Phil. (International Politics)

La récurrence des crises politiques et sécuritaires dans la région sahélo-saharienne continue de mettre en lumière les multiples facteurs d'instabilité qui la touchent. Plaçant l'État au centre de notre réflexion, nous verrons que, si ces fragilités peuvent être le fruit de facteurs exogènes, elles constituent surtout le résultat de décisions endogènes. Partant de ce constat, cette étude analysera les politiques mises en place par les autorités du Burkina Faso, du Mali et du Niger, le cadre régional dans lequel elles s'inscrivent et les interdépendances qu'elles contractent. Face à la faiblesse de ces pays, la solution d'une approche régionale a été plébiscitée mais son efficacité se heurte à la défense des intérêts particuliers des États et de leurs gouvernants. / The repetition of political and security crisis in the Sahel region highlights the multiplicity of factors of instability. The State being at the center of our study, we will observe that, despite exogenous threats, its fragility is mostly the result of endogenous decisions. This said, our work will analyze policies implemented by the authorities of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, the regional frame in which they place themselves and the mutual dependence they contracted. To counter the weakness of these countries, the regional approach has benne praised. Its effectiveness must, however, face the defense of rulers' and States' particular interests.

Cette thèse se veut à la fois critique et pragmatique. Critique de l’histoire récente du Mali lue à l’aune des outils procurés par l’analyse juridique, la sociologie et l’anthropologie du droit. Cette intention critique a conduit à interroger l’histoire du Mali des origines dans une perspective génétique qui a été détaillée dans les prolégomènes. Pragmatique, la thèse formule des propositions rattachées à la situation concrète du Mali, allant dans le sens d’un décloisonnement des consciences et de la restauration des normes constitutives de la République malienne. C’est à la satisfaction de ces deux impératifs que les analyses du langage ont été utiles. Elles ont également permis d’identifier certaines insuffisances de la dogmatique juridique généralement soucieuse de plaquer des concepts préfabriqués sur les réalités africaines, que de saisir au plus près ces réalités avec leurs nuances. Il est donc apparu opportun pour y parvenir de procéder à l’analyse des stratégies des acteurs ordinaires de la société politique malienne. La prise en considération des concepts manipulés par ces derniers explique le recours aux langues autochtones. La première partie de la thèse est consacrée à l’analyse du développement chaotique du Mali après l’abandon du projet des pères de l’indépendance sous la double pression des contraintes économiques et des déterminants culturels. La seconde partie en tire les conséquences du point de vue de la théorie constitutionnelle. C’est la raison pour laquelle la thèse s’achève sur la proposition d’une réforme du système de l’unité africaine inspirée, à l’image de tout ce qui précède, d’un dicton de la langue bambara : « Dormir sur la natte des autres, c’est comme si l’on dormait par terre ». / This thesis is both critical and pragmatic. A criticism of Mali’s recent history read in the light of the tools provided by the legal analysis, sociology and anthropology of law. This critical intent led to examine the history of Mali’s origins in a genetic perspective that has been detailed in the prolegomena. Pragmatic, the thesis puts forward proposals related to the concrete situation of Mali, along the lines of a deregulation of consciences and the re-introduction of constitutive standards into the Malian Republic. The language analysis proved valuable in meeting these two requirements. They also enabled to identify some shortcomings in legal dogma generally more anxious to graft prefabricated concepts onto African realities, rather than capture these realities with their nuances as close as possible. It therefore seemed appropriate to analyze the strategies of ordinary actors of the Malian political society. The consideration of the concepts handled by these latter accounts for the use of indigenous languages. The first part of the thesis is devoted to the analysis of Mali’s chaotic development in the aftermath of the relinquishment of the fathers’ project of independence under the double pressure of economic constraints and cultural determinants. The second part draws the relevant consequences from the point of view of constitutional theory. Thus, the thesis concludes with the proposal for reform of the system of African Unity based, upon as all the above, Bambara language’s saying : “Sleeping on the mat of others is like sleeping on the floor.