THE FÉLIX HOUPHOUËT-BOIGNY UNIVERSITY OF COCODY, THE SAINT JEAN-PAUL II UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE OF YAMOUSSOUKRO, THE IVORIAN ASSOCIATION OF PHILOSOPHY PROFESSORS AND THE FÉLIX HOUPHOUËT-BOIGNY FOUNDATION ARE ORGANIZING THE INTERNATIONAL COLLOQUIUM ON AFRICAN INTEGRATION ON THE THEME: “FROM THE VISION OF THE FATHERS OF INDEPENDENCE TO THE CURRENT STATE OF AFFAIRS OF A PROJECT“
YAMOUSSOUKRO, IVORY COAST OCTOBER 18-21, 2022
CALL FOR PAPERS
The end of slavery and the slave trade saw the birth of a pan-Africanist movement in the United States and Europe in the early nineteenth century. This movement was initiated by black American and Caribbean intellectuals and politicians, among whom we can mention Edward Wilmot Blyden, Antenor Firmin, William Edward Burghardt Du Bois. The goal of the initiators was the realization of an integrated political organization of all the nations and peoples of Africa, especially since, for them, as Niamkey Koffi emphasizes, “the peoples of Africa and the Diaspora share a common history and destiny and (…) their social, economic and political progress is linked to their unity “1.
This ideal of unity was to be found at the genesis of the Organization of African Unity (OAU). However, among African leaders, there were “radicals” who favored a break with the Western world, and “moderates” who favored maintaining relations with capitalist states. It was in this context of internal divisions that the International Conference of Independent African States, organized in Addis Ababa in 1962, established the position of the “moderates”, led by Félix Houphouët-Boigny. The Organization of African Unity (OAU), born from this conference, includes the continental African States, Madagascar and the other neighbouring islands of Africa. Its objective was to strengthen the unity and solidarity of African states, to defend their sovereignty, to eliminate colonialism in all its forms and finally to promote international cooperation. With the consecration of the position of the moderates, the fathers of the African independence opted for an integration which should be concretized by successive stages as well at the level of the various fields of the human activity as within the framework of the regional communities such as envisaged by the Resolution CM/Res.464 (XXVII) of the Council of Ministers of the OAU “relating to the division of Africa into five (5) regions, namely: North Africa, West Africa, Central Africa, East Africa and Southern Africa”.
1 Niamkey Koffi, “Houphouët-Boigny, l’homme de culture et le panafricaniste”, in Editions de la fondation Félix Houphouët-Boigny, 2021, pp. 18-19.
These different regions are required to operationalize, within their territorial jurisdiction, the various resolutions adopted at the continental level, in order to achieve, by 2063, the vision of the African Union (AU): an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, managed by its own citizens, “a continent politically united and founded on the ideals of Pan-Africanism and the vision of the Renaissance of Africa”2.
In the realization of the African integration project, numerous Resolutions were adopted by the Assembly of Heads of State, including the “Lagos Plan of Action “3 for the implementation of the Monrovia Strategy for the Economic Development of Africa. Chapter 2 of this plan stipulates that “in their development plans, Member States shall give a decisive role to industrialization for its effects on the satisfaction of the basic needs of the populations, the integration of the economy and the modernization of society (…) and shall proclaim the years 80-90 as the Decade of Industrial Development in Africa”4. The year 2000 should allow the creation of “an African Economic Community to ensure the economic, social and cultural integration of our continent”5.
At the regional level, the various Communities have also adopted measures and resolutions that should contribute to the advent of this integrated Africa. This is the case, for example, with the ECOWAS Vision 20206, adopted by the Conference of Heads of State and Government of the region in June 2007 in Abuja, Nigeria. This vision calls for the transformation of ECOWAS of states into an ECOWAS of peoples, an ECOWAS “without borders where the people have access to the abundant resources and are able to exploit them through the creation of opportunities in a
This ECOWAS vision, which is supposed to replace Vision 2020, reaffirms the relevance of the institution of a people’s ECOWAS by emphasizing the respect of fundamental freedoms within the framework of strong institutions. Adopted by the Members of the ECOWAS Parliament, meeting in plenary on December 4, 2021 in Abuja, during the second ordinary session of 2021, Vision 2050 intends to achieve, by 2050, “a fully integrated community of peoples in a peaceful and prosperous region with strong institutions that respect fundamental freedoms and work towards inclusive and sustainable development.
2 African Union, Agenda 2063. The Africa We Want, Aspiration 2. https://au.int/sites/default/files/documents/33126-doc 06_the_vision_english.pdf.
3 2nd Extraordinary Session of the Summit Conference of Heads of State and Government on Economic Issues, held in Lagos, Nigeria, from 20 to 29 April 1990.
4 Lagos Plan, Chapter: “Industry”, Introduction, point 52.
5 Preamble of the Treaty signed on June 3, 1991 in Abuja, Nigeria.
6 Community of West African States.
After more than sixty years of independence of African countries and implementation of the policy of African integration adopted by the fathers of independence, the Yamoussoukro symposium wants to take stock of the situation and question the hopes raised and the objectives aimed at, in order to open up avenues for solutions.
International and interdisciplinary, this symposium will bring together : Philosophers, Historians, Sociologists, Geographers, Jurists, Economists, Political scientists, Politicians, National, Regional and Sub regional Institutions, Linguists, Anthropologists, Ethnologists, etc….
This scientific meeting will be held from October 18 to 21, 2022 at the Félix Houphouët-Boigny Foundation for Peace Research, around the following axes
Axis 1: History of African integration
- The origins of the concept of African integration
- The vision of the Fathers of Independence
- Regional organizations and African integration
Axis 2: Assessment of African integration
- Political aspects of African integration
- The economic project
- Socio-cultural integration
Axis 3: Challenges and issues of African integration
- Sovereignty, governance and security challenges
- The mastery of knowledge and technology
- The conditions for true socio-cultural integration and economic independence
- Ecological challenges, the new multipolar order and capital formation
Objectives :
- To know the history of African integration and the community instruments
- Take stock of sixty years of integration in a multidimensional way
- To provide answers to new challenges that tend to weaken the acts of integration.
SUBMISSION STANDARDS AND TIMELINE
May 31, 2022: deadline for submission of paper proposals. Proposals, followed by an abstract of no more than 300 words, should be sent to the Scientific Committee of the Colloquium, at the address below.
They must be written in Word only (Times New Roman, 14, line spacing 1.15, justified), in the form of an abstract with the title of the paper, the axis and sub-theme of registration, the name of the author, his/her rank or function, his/her organization, his/her e-mail address, and his/her telephone number.
June 15, 2022: notification of acceptance or not of the abstract by the Committee.
August 15, 2022: deadline for sending the final papers
September 15, 2022: Sending of invitation letters.
October 18-21, 2022: International colloquium at the Félix Houphouët-Boigny Foundation for Peace Research, in Yamoussoukro.
Proposals for papers, with titles and abstracts, in French, are received until May 31, 2022 at the following address: colloqueintegrationafciyakro22@gmail.com
Telephone contact: +225 0102268222 (WhatsApp)