ABSTRACT
This chapter first reviews the recent history of regional integration attempts on the African continent. It then focuses on the drivers for injecting a social dimension into the regional integration process. The issue of whether the European Union’s attempts to negotiate Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with Africa are helping or hindering the process of regional social integration is discussed here. Using the examples of ECOWAS in West Africa and the SADC in South Africa, a more detailed account is then provided of the emergence of subregional social policies. The chapter ends with a report on the most recent developments at the continental level, with the agreement in January 2009 of the Africa Union to a Framework for African Social Policy. The place of regional and sub-regional social policy within that framework is reported.
