ECOWAS and Human Security in West Africa: A Review of the Literature

Abstract

The concept of human security has received widespread attraction from scholars of security studies and international relations. In West Africa however, the preoccupation of ECOWAS for long has been on efforts to save the collapse of state structures such that more attention has been on its military intervention. This review covers studies on human security in West Africa and ECOWAS efforts at tackling human security threats in the sub-region. It particularly looks at the literature relating to the triad interrelated human security threats of arms trafficking, drug trafficking and trafficking in persons (TIP) and ECOWAS efforts in addressing them. It observes in the end that the extant literature has covered several aspects of human security in West Africa but recommends the need for a study that highlights the interrelatedness of these threats. This will help shape the direction of policy especially for the sub-regional body and its impact on the security of its people.