The Role of ECOWAS and International Organizations

At the end of colonial rule in West Africa witnessed the rise of different transnational security threats in the region, such as civil wars, political instability, transnational crime, terrorism and the proliferation of small arms to member states. While civil wars have transcended regional conflicts as the primary cause of casualties for decades in West Africa, it seems that ECOWAS and international organizations like the UN have become increasingly supportive to security governance in the region. Member states have also seen the growing role of non-state actors in the provisions of security governance in their various countries. As a result of the present global system which contains internal or regional wars that can have severe and immediate consequences for states in the region. Regional organizations like ECOWAS and sub-regional organization like the Mano River Union (MRU) have contributed to regional security governance and, in this sense, either act as elements of global governance, or complement to the efforts other international bodies like the UN, UNOWA, and other multinational institutions like the World Bank and IMF.