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West Africa is one of the most instable regions in the world with ongoing conflicts and civil wars. At the same time the region's importance is growing globally due to its rich resources and strategically important location. Many states, including Norway, are currently rethinking their strategies in the region and how to deal with the problematic situations in the Mano River and Niger Delta areas. L. Pitkaniemi

West Africa has been an unstable region until the early 21st century, when the conflict levels reduced and democratic elections were held. The region is very resource rich and delivers up to 1/4 of United State's oil imports, making the region a good investment for Norwegian oil producing companies. Based on prior experience, Norway has built up a West African strategy that focuses on stability and development. L. Pitkaniemi

Draws on the New Regionalism Approach (NRA) to analyze the political economy of the new regionalism in southern Africa in the post-Cold War & postapartheid era. The NRA challenges much of conventional wisdom in the field, which is seen as narrowly focused on intergovernmental regional organizations & intraregional trade. The analysis identifies four main types of regionalism in southern Africa, which to a large extent occur within the larger context of economic globalization, neoliberalism, & the retreat of the state: (1) open regionalism, (2) microregionalism, (3) private firms led regionalism, & (4) informal regionalism from below. Both open regionalism & microregionalism (as built around the concept of spatial development initiatives) seek to reinforce economic globalization & market integration, & attract foreign direct investment to bankable private investment projects. Together with the firms driven regionalism, which is constructed by & around large South African business enterprises, these three types of regionalism sustain a particular pattern of elite driven regionalism centered on economic growth, trade, & capital intensive projects in the formal economy, with little focus on development & poverty reduction. To a large extent, the myriad of activities included in informal regionalism from below emerges as a consequence of the negative & exclusionary effects of neoliberalism & the three types of elite driven regionalism. 47 References. Adapted from the source document.

This article considers the rising importance regional power development in a world where the stability of political alliances is increasingly brought into question. Most world leaders agree that these emerging economies will come to play an ever-more powerful role in the shaping of tomorrow's global policies, even if they do not themselves occupy the leading socio-political slots. Several possible policy configurations for China, India, Brazil, & South Africa are considered here, focusing on the degree to which these countries will both collectively & independently choose to balance their engagement between their local sphere of influence & their strategic global allies, namely the US & EU. It is suggested that the direction China elects to take in its policy over the coming years will have a decisive role for the other developing regions as a whole, because its economic power will largely temper the attitudes of the dominant world powers towards these regional powers. Tables, References. C. Brunski