COMPARATIVE INTEGRATION: A BRIEF ANALYSIS OF THE EUROPEAN UNION (EU) AND THE ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS)

This paper attempts to compare the European Union and the Economic Community of West African States. It contends that economic integration has t he potential to enhance the relative strength of th e integrating economies in their bargaining with other economic g roupings in the world. It however frowns at the ind iscriminate implementation by the Economic Community of West African States of ideas and theories borrowed from th e European experience without recourse to West Africa's peculiar socio-economic and historical problems.