Modes of Regional Governance in Africa: Neoliberalism, Sovereignty-boosting and Shadow Networks

Drawing on critical international political economy (IPE), the purpose of the article is to assess some important modes of regional governance in Africa with regard to how these are related, by whom they are erected, and whom and what purpose they serve. The critical perspective and distinctions made between formal-informal and public-private modes of regional governance makes it possible to transcend the bias inherent in the conventional usage of the concept of governance (“good governance” and formal-public governance). The study highlights three modes of regional governance in Africa—neoliberal regional governance; sovereignty-boosting governance; and regional shadow governance—all which tend to have more informal and private characteristics than the conventional idealisation of formal-public governance. As a result they also have many negative consequences for the poor and excluded.