ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a stand-alone examination of the Union du Maghreb Arabe, or Arab Maghreb Union (AMU) in English, a sub-regional organization founded in 1989 and comprising all of the Arab League's member states in the west of North Africa—namely, Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia. It explores the founding of the AMU before moving on to examine its structures and evolution. The chapter also explores the AMU's work in economic, social, and cultural cooperation before examining the organization's major problems and its prospects for the future. The purpose of the AMU is, on paper, extremely wide ranging; indeed, in some senses it really feels more like attempts at Arab unity such as the United Arab Republic (UAR) than an international organization like the League. Given the absence of Presidential Council meetings it is clearly sensible to lower the expectations of what the AMU can achieve.
