In 2024, Africa’s sub-regional landscape reflects deepening tensions between normative commitments to regional integration and the emergence of competing political and security alignments. From institutional paralysis to political withdrawals, the coherence of Africa’s regional blocs is being tested. How are regional groupings adapting to these shifts, and what do current developments reveal about the state of regionalism across the continent? This panel will assess the evolution of Africa’s sub-regional orders, focusing on cases where fragmentation has become increasingly visible, notably in the rupture between the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) and ECOWAS. It will explore whether Africa’s regional architectures can accommodate internal dissent without losing strategic relevance, and how competing political visions and external influences are shaping new dynamics of cooperation—or disintegration. Can regional blocs maintain their role as engines of integration and stability, or are we witnessing a drift toward selective alignments and ad hoc diplomacy?
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