How Regional Integration Is Actually Unfolding In Africa: The Pragmatics Of Integration And The Ethiopia–Djibouti Case

The evolution of relations between Ethiopia and Djibouti challenges one of the most persistent assumptions in African regional integration: that integration proceeds through a linear sequence of institutional stages designed and managed from above by regional organizations. Classical integration theory imagines a gradual progression from free trade areas to customs unions, common markets, and ultimately political union. Yet the African experience increasingly reveals a different reality. Regional integration advances as governments address concrete operational challenges and respond to growing functional interdependencies, rather than through ideological convergence toward predetermined models of integration. In this perspective, integration is not imposed from above according to a predefined institutional blueprint. Instead, it emerges through adaptive interactions and incremental institutional adjustments driven by practical needs such as developing transport corridors, incresing connectivity, encoraging cross-border economic activity, or securing reliable access to the sea, as illustrated by the Ethiopia–Djibouti case.

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