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There is profound concern in large circles in Africa that the Cotonou Agreement obstructs African governments from supporting domestic production, and that the EU is splitting Africa in two by striking separate deals with different African regions. These perceptions are important considerations for those involved in the upcoming negotiations to replace the existing agreement.

With the Cotonou Agreement due to expire in 2020, formal negotiations towards a new partnership agreement between the EU and African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states began in September 2018. Based on the acceptance of the EU's negotiating mandate, the new arrangement will be primarily organised via three specific regional protocols with each of the ACP regions. Meanwhile, the Joint Africa-EU Strategy (JAES) launched in 2007, has seen the African Union (AU) gain increased prominence as an institutional partner of the EU. Given its ambitious pan-African agenda, it adopted an alternative 'African' vision for future EU-ACP relations, to the mandate agreed by the ACP states and expressed a willingness to become directly involved in the negotiations. This article contributes an important new case-study to the existing literature on 'African agency' in international politics by considering the scope for Africa to exert agency within the post-Cotonou negotiations, given the negotiation of a specific regional compact with Africa. It adopts a structurally embedded view of agency, based on Cox's understanding of historical structures, as a fit between institutions, ideas and material relations. The central argument is that, in comparison to the negotiation of the Cotonou Agreement two decades ago, there is greater scope for African agency. However, both the ideational and material aspects of Africa's relationship with the EU, condition the limits to how effective such agency might be. Moreover, tensions at the institutional level between the ACP and AU further undermine the potential for effective African agency.

With the Cotonou Agreement due to expire in 2020, formal negotiations towards a new partnership agreement between the EU and African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states began in September 2018. Based on the acceptance of the EU's negotiating mandate, the new arrangement will be primarily organised via three specific regional protocols with each of the ACP regions. Meanwhile, the Joint Africa-EU Strategy (JAES) launched in 2007, has seen the African Union (AU) gain increased prominence as an institutional partner of the EU. Given its ambitious pan-African agenda, it adopted an alternative 'African' vision for future EU-ACP relations, to the mandate agreed by the ACP states and expressed a willingness to become directly involved in the negotiations. This article contributes an important new case-study to the existing literature on 'African agency' in international politics by considering the scope for Africa to exert agency within the post-Cotonou negotiations, given the negotiation of a specific regional compact with Africa. It adopts a structurally embedded view of agency, based on Cox's understanding of historical structures, as a fit between institutions, ideas and material relations. The central argument is that, in comparison to the negotiation of the Cotonou Agreement two decades ago, there is greater scope for African agency. However, both the ideational and material aspects of Africa's relationship with the EU, condition the limits to how effective such agency might be. Moreover, tensions at the institutional level between the ACP and AU further undermine the potential for effective African agency.

The present study analyses the use of the political instruments for the protection of Human Rights, democracy and the rule of law under the Partnership Agreement between the European Union (EU) and the African-Caribbean–Pacific (ACP) countries embedded in the Cotonou Agreement: the consultations under article 96, intensified and regular political dialogue. It briefly outlines the legal provisions of the revised treaty, reviews recent practice, and looks into the involvement of civil society and parliamentary bodies in the political dialogue.

Authors from different backgrounds (including law, political science and economics) analyze the forces that gave rise to the new agreement as well as the negotiating process of the new agreement, and the negotiations that are taking place to produce the planned Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) that are to replace the existing non-reciprocal trade preferences that are incompatible with WTO law

The negotiation of post-Lome economic cooperation arrangements between the European Union and the African-Caribbean-Pacific Group ended its first phase in February 2000 with the signing of the Treaty of Cotonou. For Caribbean actors, the Cotonou negotiations marked a significant watershed in the adaptation of their foreign policies and diplomatic strategies to cope with a globalized international environment. The issues and themes addressed in Cotonou demonstrate the collision of development concepts forged in the 1970s with the Neoliberalism of the 1980s and 1990s. Cotonou symbolizes the transition from one economic order to another. Its negotiation involved the establishment of new diplomatic and administrative structures in the Caribbean and the participation of many interest groups not previously involved in such diplomatic activity. It became the forerunner to even more complex negotiations in the World Trade Organization and the free Trade Area of the Americas. This paper explores the Caribbean role and experiences in the negotiation of the Cotonou Treaty and the lessons of this diplomatic exercise for future multilateral trade negotiations. Resumen: Tocando en la misma cuerda: La diplomacia caribeña y el acuerdo de CotonouLa negociación de los acuerdos de cooperación económica tras los acuerdos de Lome entre la Unión Europea y el Grupo África-Caribe-Pacífico concluyó su primera fase en febrero de 2000 con la firma del Tratado de Cotonou. Para los participantes caribeños, las negociaciones de Cotonou señalaron un importante y crítico momento en la adaptación de sus políticas exteriores y estrategias diplomáticas para funcionar en un ambiente internacional globalizado. Los problemas y temas tratados en Cotonou reflejan el choque de conceptos de desarrollo forjados en los años setenta, con el neoliberalismo de los años ochenta y noventa. Cotonou simboliza la transición de un orden económico a otro. Su negociación implicó el establecimiento de nuevas estructuras diplomáticas y administrativas en el Caribe y la incorporación de muchos grupos de interés que no participaban previamente en esas actividades diplomáticas. Se convirtió en el precursor de negociaciones todavía más complejas en la Organización Mundial del Comercio y el Área de Libre Comercio de las Américas. En este artículo exploramos el papel y experiencias del Caribe en la negociación del Tratado de Cotonou y las lecciones aprendidas en este ejercicio diplomático para futuras negociaciones comerciales multilaterales.