Regional trade agreements proliferated in Africa in the wake of independence from colonial rule. For the most part these agreements failed to deliver the regional integration and economic benefits that were promised, and amounted to little more than a propaganda coup for the leaders that signed them. This book explores conventional explanations of the failure of these agreements, and challenges the accepted wisdom, highlighting the symbiotic relationship between "Big Man" politics and crony capitalism. The rise of second generation regional trade agreements in the first decade of the...