Economic integration and foreign direct investment were adopted by developing countries particularly in Africa, as strategies for economic development. For these countries, economic integration became not only a tariff issue, but a strategy for development; hence the term "developmental regionalism". This thesis is a study of the concept of developmental regionalism in West Africa. It concentrates on the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which was formed in 1975. / It is argued that as a strategy for development, the ECOWAS integration effort was inadequate because of undue reliance on tariff reductions--- so called "negative integration" measures. It is suggested that to facilitate a more cohesive integration program, countries in the region ought to adopt positive integration measures in the form of common policies on money and payments, industrialization and most significantly, a common policy on investments. / With respect to investment regulation, it is my argument that because liberalization of investment laws at the national level failed to attract the desired flow of foreign investment to the region, ECOWAS Member States ought to harmonize their regulatory framework with a view to ultimately adopting a single legal regime for international investment. / As a framework for analysis, I adopt the criteria of economic efficiency. This is a cost/benefit analysis of the transformations that occur as the result of contractual transactions. Where the costs to the parties exceed or are likely to exceed the benefits of the transaction, it is said to be inefficient. Using these criteria, I argue that in order to inject a level of fairness in investor/host state relations, and to avoid the costs of FDI to host societies exceeding the gains therefrom, international law ought to make binding prescriptions to govern corporate conduct. Based on this reasoning, I suggest a framework for improving the investment climate in West Africa.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.20540 |
| Date | January 1997 |
| Creators | Marong, Alhagi. |
| Contributors | Mestral, A. L. C. de (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Laws (Institute of Comparative Law.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001632180, proquestno: MQ44066, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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