Paper short abstract:

The theory of panafrican authentic development challenges the neo-liberal Eurocentric understanding of regional economic integration model proposed to Africa. Embedded in the panafrican vision and Ubuntu, it can lead to industrialization, mutual trade attraction, and to strong communal societies.

Paper long abstract:

After half a century of independence, in spite of its abundant natural resources, the continent of Africa represents less than 2% of the world economy, with more than 200 million people chronically hungry, with a very low level of African intratrade. The international patterns of trade are unchallenged, unchanged, and perpetuate the colonial design. This state of affairs suggests a paradigm shift. The integration model, in force, deeply rooted in the neoclassical economics, and which advocates the immersion of a fragmented Africa in the world economy does not meet the needs of Africans.

The Theory of Pan-African Authentic Development is an alternative and merges five discourses: the political economy of panafricanism (works of Cheikh Anta Diop and Kwame Nkrumah), the concept of authentic development anchored in the humanitarian paradigm, the theory of economic integration based on the simultaneous sectoral strategic integration, the Ubuntu philosophy (about sharing, complementarity, and interconnectedness, and the spirit and letter of the original understanding of economics based on the concept of citizenship and social justice.

The research critically examines major regional arrangements in Africa while using the very economic principles of the neo-liberal school to articulate a development model based on a needed African solidarity in line with the panafrican vision. It therefore outlines an amended version of the law of comparative advantage, the principle of rational action, and the cost-benefit analysis. The model puts emphasis on two productive sectors energy, namely renewable and agriculture as key to build self-sufficient and self-reliant communities.