Africa and the World Trading System. Volume 1 : Selected Issues of the Doha Agenda (review)

Edited by two African scholars, this volume affords an impressively rigorous treatment of "Africa and the World Trading System." This work is the first of three volumes resulting from a research project on this subject initiated by the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC). The project's aim is to examine critically the dense latticework of analytic and policy issues that characterize Africa's economic links with the rest of the world—and to do so against the backdrop of the evolving world trading system.

Volume 1 consists of an introductory chapter and ten framework papers (chapters 2–11). Three broad subject areas receive extensive coverage: the post–Uruguay Round market access conditions facing African exports, with a focus on major markets; the implications of Uruguay Round agreements for African countries' development strategies; and the extent of African participation in the World Trade Organization (WTO) and ways of making participation more effective. The third area provides the unifying theme of the book. Indeed, the connective tissue holding this volume together is the imperative for Africa to enhance its capacity in both human and institutional terms, in trade-related negotiations, and in altering national frameworks. This challenge is threaded throughout volume 1 but taken up at greatest length in an expansive chapter written by John F. E. Ohiorhenuan of the United Nations Development Programme.

The strengths of this volume lie in its rare marriage of scholarly depth and comprehensive policy analysis. This is no doubt a reflection of the academic-practitioner backgrounds of the editors. Oyejide is a professor of economics at the University of Ibadan and a member of the WTO advisory panel. Lyakurwa is executive director of the AERC and a trade adviser to Uganda, Tanzania, and the International Trade Centre based in Geneva.

The analyses put forward in each chapter can be characterized by their depth and their grounding in carefully constructed empirical studies. We are not left with teeming facts and raw data that would otherwise threaten to overwhelm the reader. Instead, fastidious attention is paid to explicating policy implications. The reader is guided through a disaggregated view of the data, with its associated relevance for the region or country. Substance and structure are found in equal measure: in each chapter an introduction enumerates the main conclusions of the chapter and is followed by a clear and thoughtful discussion of the chapter's dominant theme.

However, this volume has three limitations. First, the principal studies, while extremely robust, are roughly ten years old. While the authors aim to articulate the continent's position on key trade issues with respect to the world trade system, this constitutes a shifting landscape; as a result, they fail to capture significant developments taking place over the last decade. This ten-year gap renders at least some of the policy analysis (e.g., "opportunities and challenges" and "new issues") dated. As a consequence, the most useful sections are the historical analyses on market access conditions, lessons from the Uruguay Round, and the rich discussion of capacity building for enhanced African participation in the WTO.

Second, the index is incomplete as a reference tool. Two examples should prove illustrative. A general topic, the "Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights" or TRIPS, although discussed in the text, does not appear at all. And a specific topic, "competition policy," which receives good coverage in the text, is not mentioned as a subheading under "competition." Third, in terms of the writing style, the tone of this volume is about as humorless as a bomb.

In spite of these flaws, this reviewer recommends volume 1 without reservation and looks forward to the publication of volumes 2 and 3.