The AfCFTA Cannot Integrate Africa Alone: Why The Continent Needs More Than One Engine Of Integration

For decades, regional integration has been guided by a dominant linear logic. Governments negotiate agreements, establish supranational institutions, harmonize regulations, reduce tariffs, and economic integration will automatically follow. This hierarchical, top-down logic has shaped integration efforts around the world, from customs unions to common markets. It also underpins much of the thinking surrounding the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), widely celebrated as the most ambitious trade agreement ever undertaken on the continent. But what if this sequence does not reflect how integration actually happens in Africa? Read more on Eurasia Review.