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Published on 23 September 2025 in Research / Books and other publications

By
Djiby Sow
Senior Researcher, ISS Regional Office for West Africa and the Sahel
Melissa Li
Research Fellow at the Global Public Policy Institute
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ECOWAS in Crisis: A Case for Ambitious Reforms

With AES gone and the region fragile, will ECOWAS choose deeper integration to regain legitimacy and build resilience?

Confronted with political fragmentation, epitomised by the 2025 withdrawal of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) stands at a crossroads: preserve the status quo, confine itself to economic integration (its original mandate), or pursue deeper political integration. This brief argues for the latter, urging ECOWAS to seize today’s window of opportunity for ambitious reforms. In light of the structural weaknesses of ECOWAS member states at a time of global geopolitical upheaval, only a more integrated ECOWAS can effectively restore legitimacy, reinforce resilience and serve as an indispensable facilitator of stability.


About the authors

Djiby Sow is a Senior Researcher at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS)
Melissa Li is a Research Fellow at the Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi)

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Development partners
This publication is funded by the German Federal Foreign Office as part of the project ​“Stabilization Lab: Improving Key Instruments for Crisis Prevention, Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding.” This arm of the project on​“Political Tools for Managing Crises in Africa,” is a collaboration between GPPi and the Institute for Security Studies (ISS). The views expressed herein solely reflect those of the authors and do not present the official position of the German government. The ISS is also grateful for support from the members of the ISS Partnership Forum: the Hanns Seidel Foundation, the European Union, the Open Society Foundations and the governments of Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden.
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