Introduction: The African Union: a decade and a half later / Tony Karbo and Tim Murithi -- Part I. Pan-Africanism: from the OAU to the AU. 1. The African Union and the renaissance of pan-Africanism / Kuruvilla Mathews -- 2. Pan-Africanism and the African diaspora / Molefi Kete Asante -- 3. The Africa Group at the United Nations: pan-Africanism on the retreat / Adonia Ayebare -- Part II. Governance, security and development. 4. The evolving African governance architecture / Khabele Matlosa -- 5. The African Union: regional and global challenges / Hesphina Rukato -- 6. The African peer review mechanism / Amos Sawyer and Afeikhena Jerome -- 7. The AU's peace and security architecture: the African standby force / Kasaija Phillip Apuuli -- 8. The African Union's socio-economic challenges / Charles Mutasa -- 9. The African Union and its relations with sub-regional economic communities / Dawn Nagar and Fritz Nganje -- Part III. The AU's potential hegemons and external actors. 10. Caught between pan-African solidarism and realist developmentalism? South Africa's pivotal role in the African Union / Chris Landsberg -- 11. The African Union and the United Nations: crafting an international partnership in the field of peace and security / Ulf Engel -- 12. The African Union-China partnership: ;prospects and challenges / David Monyae -- Conclusion: The African Union in transition: sustaining the momentum / Tim Murithi.

The African Union has been a major factor in establishing peace, security and development in Africa. Today, however, the intranational body is struggling in the midst of a perceived dissipating appetite for supporting continental institutions. Previously seen as the panacea to Africa's continuing problems with violence and corruption in society, under the slogan "African Solutions to African Problems", the African Union, this book argues, seems to have run its course. Recognizing that the measured successes in political emancipation which have been recorded across the African continent do not seem to have translated into economic and social gains for its 1.2 billion citizens, the AU adopted a new development framework dubbed "Agenda 2063". The framework calls on African leaders to rediscover the `Pan African' spirit and to create the `Africa Africans want'. In practice this means a new focus and engagement with the African Diaspora, tapping into their strong track-record in economic development. As this book shows however, there remain deep differences over the meaning, timing and sequencing of pan-African integration. Indeed, different member states have different understandings of the role of the African Union itself. This essential handbook, from one of the leading research institutions on the continent, seeks to uncover what some of those understandings are and why the unification project has remained so elusive.-- Publisher's website.