Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-31T15:12:44.176Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Economic Origins of the Association of Some African States with the European Economic Community

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 May 2014

Wilfred A. Ndongko
Wilfred A. Ndongko*
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

It is now more than twenty years since the Rome Treaty (1958) creating the European Economic Community (EEC) was signed. Eighteen African States were also associated with EEC at the signing of the Treaty. However, during that period numerous views have been expressed either for or against the special preferential treatment that was arranged for these eighteen African nations. Some of the arguments have been made without a proper understanding of the background leading to the association of these African States with the EEC. As a result, these viewpoints have been misleading to those people who are interested in African development problems and to observers in general.

In view of this unsatisfactory situation and the author's concern, this paper will be devoted to examining the economic background to the association, with respect to French economic and financial policies in Africa. It is hoped that this exercise will help create a better understanding of the position in which French African states found themselves at the time the Rome Treaty was signed and, therefore, the rationale for their association with the EEC.

Indeed, the African countries were justifiably concerned with their world trade position, because for all of them international trade had been very important as a source of foreign exchange and capital, which are essential for their economic development and also for raising the living standards of the masses of the people.

Type
Research Article
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 16 , Issue 2 , September 1973 , pp. 219 - 232
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1973

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES CITED

A. O. F., Table Economique. Paris, 1965.Google Scholar
Berg, E. “French West Africa.” In Galenson, G., ed. Labour and Economic Development. New York: Harper and Row, 1959.Google Scholar
Bounier, C. F. Statistiques du commerce exterieur des possessions française en 1938. Secretariat d'Etat aux Colonies, 1941.Google Scholar
Brunchwig, A. La colonization française. Paris: Presse Université, 1949.Google Scholar
De Garbon, L. B. “Problems of Economic Development of French Language Countries and Territories.” In Robinson, E. A. G., ed. Economic Development for Africa South of the Sahara. New York and London: St. Martins Press, 1963.Google Scholar
France. Outre-mer, 1958. Service des Statistique d'Outre-Mer, 1959.Google Scholar
Holleaux, A. Role de la CFCOM dans le financement des developpement economique et sociale, No. 48 (Paris, 1950).Google Scholar
Montesquieu, Baron de. The Spirit of the Laws. New York: Hafner, 1959.Google Scholar
Moussa, P. L'economie de la zone franc series que sais-je? Paris: Presses Universitaires, 1960.Google Scholar
Rathery, Gilbert, ed. Cameroun Tewe d'Laveni. Paris, 1960.Google Scholar
Roberts, S. H. The History of French Colonial Policy. London: Frank Cass, 1929.Google Scholar
Robinson, E. A. G., ed. Economic Development for Africa South of the Sahara. New York: St. Martins Press, 1964.Google Scholar
Schumpeter, J. A. History of Economic Analysis. New York: Oxford University Press, 1954.Google Scholar
Thompson, V. and Adloff, R.. French West Africa. London: Purnell, 1957.Google Scholar