KUFUOR, KOFI OTENG, The collapse of the Organization of African Unity: Lessons from economics and history, Journal of African Law, 49, 2 (2005): 132–144

This paper argues that the analytical tools of the New Institutional Economics (NIE) School provide fruitful lines of inquiry into the decision to replace the Organization of African Unity with the African Union. The application of two NIE methodologies, economics and history, do explain why the OAU had failed to play a meaningful role in African affairs. Relying on economic tools, the paper explores issues relating to monitoring of the members' commitments, the provision of public goods, decision-making, and membership of the OAU. Historical approaches seek to explain why the OAU remained as Africa's paramount regional organization for four decades despite the obvious flaws in the OAU's design and the consequent inefficiencies these flaws produced.