ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses policy-making agency by the ECOWAS Commission in the areas of trade and customs and provides empirical evidence for the second phase of the investigated causal process. It presents a novel perspective on the Commission as a driver of regional policy making. The policy cycle is applied as a heuristic device to identify instances of agency, autonomy, as well as resource constraints at distinctive stages of policy making. Using concepts drawn from policy studies, this chapter assesses specific instances of agency by the Commission, including the opening and closing of policy windows in agenda setting, the inclusion of policy sub-communities (including civil society) at the formulation and monitoring stages, decision accretion in decision making, and implementation through national-level capacity development on the Common External Tariff as well as the Commission’s clearinghouse function for the ECOWAS Trade Liberalization Scheme.
