African regional institution-building with reference to new partnership for African development (NEPAD) :|bthe application of the Khaldunian principle of Asabiyyah as an instrument of unity and cooperation

Abstract

This work investigates the idea of building alliance and solidarity among nations from an Islamic perspective by looking at the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD), an African continental development programme that was proposed by five African Heads of State at an AU Summit Lusaka, Zambia in 2002. In this study, the theoretical framework employs the Khaldunian principle of Asabiyyah as an instrument of unity and cooperation to bring about cooperation between these nations. The source and method of data collection and their analysis were based on qualitative research which used the illustrative method and content analysis. The data were collected from books, journal articles, and governmental documents and speeches of African leaders on inter-regional cooperation and seminar papers. In order to achieve the aim of this research, the study provided a useful analysis of the social economic development across regions of the continent and sought to identify patterns and regularities of successful initiatives sparked by regional political-economic institutions. Early indications show that NEPAD is a good initiative for the continent and its Peer Review Mechanism helps assess African governments on corporate governance, accountability and democratic participation. Findings reveal that NEPAD has not only failed to set up a mechanism for sanctioning any state that defaults on observing good governance practice, but has also been unable to set up a regional security mechanism which could manage peace and security in Africa. It failed to restructure African political systems from patrimonialism to institutionalized electoral democratic political systems, and also failed to adhere to the Abuja Treaty that sought to establish only five (5) regional economic groups to the unprecedented and nonregulated proliferation of regional groups that number (14) fourteen with no sufficient resources to sustain and meet their regional obligations.