Regionalism in East Africa c. 1900 to the present

该项目将首次对二十世纪东非地区主义进行全面的历史研究。关于东非各领土之间正式政治和经济一体化的想法在该地区有着悠久的历史，可以追溯到殖民时期，目前体现在（第二）东非共同体的机构中，这是一个由六个东非国家组成的政府间组织：肯尼亚、坦桑尼亚、乌干达、卢旺达、布隆迪和南苏丹。部分由于这段深厚而持续的历史，东非地区主义经常被视为非洲有效区域一体化的灯塔，几十年来，东非共同体官方言论的重要组成部分一直是对强大的共同区域认同——甚至命运的主张。但是，区域一体化到底在多大程度上带来了积极的公共成果，或者仅仅为东非一小部分地区精英的利益服务，这个问题仍然存在激烈的争论（反映了关于这个问题的更广泛的全球辩论）。本项目将在区域和全球背景下探讨这一核心问题，研究东非内部动态以及相互关联的全球结构和过程（殖民主义、非殖民化、全球区域主义和新自由主义）的产物——区域一体化倡议的起源、特征和结果。这样一来，它将填补当前关于东非历史和政治的学术文献中的一个主要空白，超越方法论民族主义，写一部试图在国家的同时建立地区的历史。更广泛地说，随着时间的推移，地区主义作为一种政治和经济现象在东非持续存在，这也使该地区成为一个很好的案例，可以用来研究和历史性地讨论非洲和世界各地的地区主义。这个项目建立在一个成功完成的试点研究（英国学院资助- 20世纪60年代至70年代东非的区域一体化）的基础上，汇集了一组历史学家和政治科学家来研究a)一体化项目的殖民起源-“更紧密的联盟”和联邦的想法，这些想法在20世纪上半叶在英属东非的定居者和殖民官员之间进行了辩论；在非殖民化和独立的年代，民族主义者和东非公众中出现了联邦和“共同体”的概念，c) 1965年至1977年间第一个东非共同体的建立和崩溃d) 20世纪90年代至今东非共同体的复兴和扩张贯穿全文，我们将重点关注以下关键主题：区域主义愿景(泛非主义、联邦制、国家主导的发展主义；新自由主义)b)更广泛的区域内关系背景下的一体化政治c)区域一体化的（不平衡的）经济影响（外部行为者在塑造区域一体化项目中的作用，以及当地精英机构在调解或转变外部干预中的作用）上述主题随时间的延续和变化。这项研究将利用档案文件、新闻材料、官方报告和对参与区域一体化的人物的采访，产生学术和非学术产出，这些产出将对关于全球区域主义的学术辩论和关于东非区域一体化未来的政策讨论作出重大贡献。

This project will undertake the first comprehensive historical study of regionalism in East Africa in the twentieth century. Ideas about formal political and economic integration among the various territories of East Africa have a deep history in the region, dating back to the colonial period, and currently manifested in the institutions of the (second) East African Community, an intergovernmental organisation comprised of six eastern African states: Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan. Partly owing to this deep and continuing history, East African regionalism has often been seen as a beacon of effective regional integration in Africa, and assertions of a powerful sense of common regional identity - even destiny - have been an important part of the official rhetoric of the EAC over several decades. But the extent to which regional integration has delivered positive public outcomes or alternatively simply served the interests of a small regional elite in East Africa remains hotly contested (reflecting broader global debates on this issue). This project will engage this central question within both a regional and global setting, examining the origins, character and outcomes of regional integration initiatives as the product both of East African internal dynamics as well as of interlinked global structures and processes (colonialism, decolonisation, global regionalisms, and neo-liberalism). In so doing it will fill a major lacunae in the current scholarly literature on the history and politics of East Africa, moving beyond methodological nationalism to write a history of attempts at building region alongside nation. More broadly, the persistence of regionalism as a political and economic phenomenon in East Africa over time also makes the region an excellent case for examining and historicising wider debates around regionalism in Africa and the world.This project, which builds on a successfully completed pilot study (British Academy funded - regional integration in 1960s-70s East Africa) brings together a team of historians and political scientists to examine a) the colonial origins of integration projects - ideas of 'closer union' and federation that were debated amongst settlers and colonial officials in British East Africa during the first half of the twentieth century, alongside the establishment of regional institutions by the Britishb) ideas of federation and 'community' that emerged among nationalists and East African publics in the years of decolonisation and independence, c) the establishment and collapse of the first East African Community between 1965 and 1977 d) the revival and expansion of the East African Community from the 1990s to the presentThroughout we will focus on key themes includinga) the shifting intellectual content of regionalist visions (pan-Africanism; federalism; state-led developmentalism; neo-liberalism) b) the politics of integration in the context of intra-regional relations more broadly c) the (uneven) economic impact of regional integrationd) the role of external actors in shaping regional integration projects, and the role of local elite agency in mediating or transforming external interventionse) continuities and changes in the above themes over time.The research will utilise archival documentation, press material, official reports and interviews with figures involved in regional integration to produce academic and non-academic outputs that will make a major contribution to academic debate on global regionalisms and to policy discussions on the future of regional integration in East Africa.