| Abstrakt: |
This study analyses ECOWAS' responses to the COVID-19 pandemic under its extant peace and security architecture and how effective these have been. It examines the West African security environment, the evolution of the security architecture of the West African REC, and analyses its capability to respond effectively to health emergencies in West Africa, including the COVID-19 pandemic in the subregion. The study evaluates the REC's responses to earlier epidemics, in particular the Ebola Virus, in comparison to its current efforts. It observes that the region's security architecture is dominated by military approaches that are more effective in addressing military rather than non-military threats. The article therefore contends that in order to better address these new, mutating and emerging threats, a review of the ECOWAS security framework is imperative. The work proffers ways and means to strengthen the REC's capacity to deal with health emergencies, including a re-engineering of ECOWAS itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
