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Extraversion and the West African EPA Development Programme: realising the development dimension of ACP–EU trade?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 August 2015

Mark Langan  and
Sophia Price
Mark Langan*
Affiliation:
Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, United Kingdom
Sophia Price*
Affiliation:
Politics and Applied Global Ethics, Leeds Beckett University, Leeds LS2 8JE, United Kingdom
*
Email: mcel1@leicester.ac.uk
Email: sophia.price@leedsbeckett.ac.uk
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Abstract

West African elites have successfully argued for an Economic Partnership Agreement Development Programme (EPADP) as part of free trade negotiations with the European Commission. ECOWAS officials state that the EPADP is necessary to realise the ‘development dimension’ of trade. In particular, they have (re)articulated Europe's own narratives relating to Aid for Trade and private sector development – insisting that the European Commission delivers on its promises. Accordingly, European negotiators have conceded the principle of the EPADP, stating that around €6·5 billion will be delivered. This article, however, examines the likely (in)capacity of the EPADP to meaningfully marry trade and development in the context of premature liberalisation under Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs). Crucially, it argues that West African extraversion in terms of EPADP resources may entrench predatory elites while locking-in ECOWAS states into inequitable trade structures that re-embed poverty in the region.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 53 , Issue 3 , September 2015 , pp. 263 - 287
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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