ABSTRACT
In this chapter I argue that some 20 years after its establishment, the African Union as a pan-African globalization project is being relaunched to make it more effective and independent from external support. This claim is substantiated by analysis of five core AU reform activities: (1) establishing sound and predictable finances from own sources; (2) recrafting the institution and its relations to both RECs and member states; (3) building the African Continental Free Trade Area; (4) developing a public health hub-and-spoke approach through Africa CDC to fight the COVID-19 pandemic; and (5) recalibrating the Union’s international strategic partnerships. The corona pandemic has slowed down some of these efforts, but not every delay in implementation or dilution of the original aims can be attributed to the virus. At the level of member states, in some areas a mix of defiance as well as active and passive resistance vis-à-vis the AU relaunch prevails. The AU Commission also has shied away from addressing some of the bigger questions. Pragmatically, it rather concentrates on what realistically can be achieved in the short-to-medium-term.
