DOI: 10.7256/2454-0641.2018.4.26059

Abstract: The subject of research in this article is the East African Community (EAC). To date, the Community is represented by six countries: Burundi, Rwanda, South Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania. The focus of the article is on determining the trend of both economic and political integration after the countries gained state sovereignty. Also, emphasis was placed on the intensity of this tendency manifestation at different stages of the evolution of the commonwealth and the prospect of achieving the political unity of these countries within the borders of a federal state. Based on the principle of historicism and using the method of historical reconstruction, the author identifies the main determinants of integration processes in East Africa. The author also identifies factors hindering the formation of a federation and the formation of a new subject of international law in this region. The application of this method allowed to make a valid conclusion that the formation of a sovereign federal state based on the existing regional economic alliance (EAC) will be hampered, first of all, by the currently manifested and potential tribal and religious conflicts in East African countries. Also, the formation of a federal state is hampered by sociocultural, primarily linguistic heterogeneity and insatiable ambitions of the heads of state and political elites.  

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0617.2017.3.23908

Abstract: The subject of this study is the East African Commonwealth (EAC), an intergovernmental organization which, at the initial stage of its development, included sovereign African countries, such as Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. The author examines the integration processes in East Africa in the second half of the twentieth century, uncovers the factors that precipitated the formation of EAC and contributed to the optimization of the economic processes in EAC member countries. The author draws attention to the difficulties that emerged during the formation of a common economic space in EAC in 1970s, and lead to the eventual disintegration of this intergovernmental organization. Using the principle of historism, the author analyzes official documents and media sources of this time. The usage of the historical reconstruction method allowed him to discover the main political and economic determinants of the relations crisis between EAC member countries. The novelty of this work is based on the usage of English-speaking sources that were previously unused in the study of EAC 1970s crisis. Researching these sources allowed the author to reach a conclusion that the disintegration of EAC was due to a multitude of causes, chiefly the immaturity of the political systems of newly emerged, independent countries, and the lack of readiness to give op a part of their sovereignty for the common good of the member countries of the association, nationalism and economic perfectionism in domestic matters.