LIMITATIONS OF REALISM IN EXPLAINING EAST AFRICAN REGIONAL INTEGRATION AND THE SOCIAL-CONSTRUCTIVIST RESPONSE
LIMITATIONS OF REALISM IN EXPLAINING EAST AFRICAN REGIONAL INTEGRATION AND THE SOCIAL-CONSTRUCTIVIST RESPONSE

Summary/Abstract: Recently, a certain decline in the processes of regional integration has lead to a resurgence of interest in Realism as an explanatory theory of regional integration. However, opposite perspectives claim that regional co-operation structures may not be disintegrating just yet, even though they are, for the matter, advancing at a slower pace. Although they may well provide sound explanations for precise events, most Realist assumptions fail to look at the wider framework within which regional integration takes place. In order to demonstrate this point, I have chosen to examine in this paper the character of the regional integration process in the case of the East African Community organisation, by inspecting key Realist arguments regarding this regional integration process in comparison with the Social-Constructivist response.

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