Regional power Ecowas, which has just seen off yet another dictator in Yahya Jammeh, started off with a tame agenda 42 years ago. But it was soon shaped by civil wars, military coups and despots
Articles on Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)
Displaying 121 - 127 of 127 articles
Although Ecowas and the AU made sure that Yahya Jammeh stepped down after losing the elections in The Gambia, caution is warranted in assuming this heralds a trend against African dictatorships.
SADC’s credibility is at stake. Its lack of political will in acting decisively against despots is at odds with the African Union’s goal of promoting legitimate governance on the continent.
Military intervention is sanctioned and executed by states. It is thus always a function of state interests rather than the objective enforcement of law. The case of The Gambia is no different.
Yahya Jammeh will certainly be removed if West Africa decides to use force. But that will come at a heavy price for The Gambia, the neighbouring states and the world as a whole
The Gambian election dispute is not the first that ECOWAS has confronted. Côte d’Ivoire’s 2010 presidential election is a case in point. There it resorted to military action to enforce the outcome.
There is a real sense of optimism in The Gambia: for the first time since Yahya Jammeh came to power, there has been open dissent of the regime and a feeling of ownership of the country’s future.
Top contributors
-
Associate professor in Politics and International Relations, Leeds Beckett University
-
Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Kentucky
-
Nonresident Research Fellow, Rice University
-
Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellow, Aston University
-
Senior Research Fellow New South Institute, Emeritus Professor at The Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance, University of Cape Town
-
Policy Leader Fellow, School of Transnational Governance, European University Institute
-
PhD Candidate, University of Amsterdam
-
Lecturer in Political Economy of Violence, Conflict and Development, SOAS, University of London
-
Senior researcher, Arnold Bergstraesser Institute
-
Associate Professor in Geography, University of Florida
-
Senior researcher, The Nordic Africa Institute
-
Research Fellow, Obafemi Awolowo University, Regional Coordinator, Institute for Security Studies
-
Research Fellow in the Department of Politics and Public Policy, University of Waikato
-
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Political Sciences, University of Pretoria
-
Senior Research Fellow, Norwegian Institute of International Affairs and Visiting Professor University of Buckingham, Norwegian Institute of International Affairs