The East African Community: the Rise, Collapse, and Revival

The East African Community (EAC) established in 2000 represents the most current of a number of previous attempts at achieving East African integration. This study set out to investigate why Kenya. Uganda and Tanzania sought to revive the EAC after its collapse in 1977. The collapse of the old Fag African Community (EAC) in 1977 was the result of factors that strained the relationships of the states' to the extent that its continued operation was rendered impossible. The study finds that in the years following the collapse of the EAC, however, certain factors beleaguered the three states, threatening their political and economic survival, and that these factors ultimately led to the revival of the EAC. The challenges presented by end of the cold war and emergence of globalization as well as the desire to advance African Unity prevailed on the three states. They came to the realization that despite the strains it had produced on their relationships, the revival of the EAC presented the best chance of addressing their similar challenges and meeting their collective ambitions. This study, nonetheless, finds that the revived EAC still faces a number of challenges that must be overcome if it is going to achieve successful integration of the East African states.