How regional norms shape regional organizations: The Pan-African rhetorical trap and the empowerment of the ECOWAS Parliament

Abstract

Abstract Prevailing constructivist scholarship argues that the evolution of regional organizations is due to the influence of global norms such as liberal democracy. Alternative rational choice theories suggest there might be efficiency gains that explain the evolution of international organizations. However, these explanations struggle to account for some paradoxical institutional outcomes, for example, the empowerment of inefficient regional parliaments by non-democratic states—an outcome that also threatens state sovereignty. To address such paradoxes, this paper highlights the importance of regionally bound norms in shaping the development of regional organizations. It argues that regional norms can create normative traps that make states converge on a particular institutional outcome. Using the empirical case of the empowerment of the Parliament of the Economic Community of West African States, which was granted budgetary oversight and mandatory referral powers in 2016, this paper conceives of African international actors as locked in a Pan-African rhetorical trap. The Pan-African rhetorical trap describes a normative environment in which certain outcomes become irresistible for a variety of actors because they accord unambiguously with the norms of the African community. The findings have important implications for the study of international organizations more broadly, scholarship on African international relations, and scholarship on global governance.