ECOWAS and IGAD are two African sub-regional organisations that are expected to play a crucial role in prevention and resolution of conflicts as well as peacebuilding. Their track-records are uneven, but especially ECOWAS is contributing significantly in terms of democratic transitions, and preventing coup d’états and civil wars.
In this report, the authors argue that the dissimilarities between the two organisations are largely due to difference in institutional strength and the relative distribution of power among the member states. The advent of great power competition and the proliferation of transnational threats poses challenges to both ECOWAS and IGAD.
To respond to these challenges, deeper integration and better modalities for collaboration between such sub-regional organisations are needed. The report provides a comparative analysis of these organisations and points to the challenges and possible implications of these new threats.
