Volume 18, No. 6, 2021
ECOWAS Intervention In The 2020 Mali Political Crises And Political Stability In West Africa
C. G. Chidume , C. N. Oko-Otu , G. C. Aro , E. O. Agha , M. O. Ekwe , F. M. Nwankwo , I. A. Ngene , J. N. Aloh & H. C. Nwaigwe
Abstract
Since its formation in 1975, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has been at the center of ensuring political stability in the West African sub region. However, there are challenges which often impede its successful intervention and ability to maintain stability in the West African sub-region. This paper interrogates ECOWAS intervention in the political crises that engulfed Mali in 2020. It argues that ECOWAS intervention in Mali was reactionary and undermine decades of State failure and weak political institutions in Mali. This paper argues led to the resistance and rejection of ECOWAS Ministerial and Mediation mission and the subsequent support for the military junta. The paper uses the theory of neoliberal institutionalism to show how instability, institutional weakness, noncompliance, personal interests and bias among member states to the Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance limits ECOWAS capacity to take necessary steps in identifying the building blocks of instability in the sub-region. The method of data collection combines both primary and secondary.
Pages: 3639-3652
Keywords: ECOWAS, Coup Detat, Democracy, Mali, Political Crises