Introduction

This chapter highlights the relevance of assessing the agency of the ECOWAS Commission, its member states, and external actors supporting the organization. First, it situates the book in the context of ongoing debates on regional cooperation in West Africa and the institutional evolution of ECOWAS. In this context, a major research gap remains regarding the agency of the ECOWAS Commission and its interactions with member states in practice, beyond written documents. To substantiate this claim, the introduction provides an overview of the emergence and place of the Commission in West Africa’s regionalism as a supranational actor. Second, it positions the analysis in relation to research on West Africa’s relations with its external environment. Here, a persistent research gap relates to the impact of institutional support provided by external actors to ECOWAS and its Commission.