When pigs fly: ECOWAS and the protection of constitutional order in events of Coups d’Etat

in: Tanja A. Börzel / Lukas Goltermann / Mathis Lohaus / Kai Striebinger: Roads to regionalism: the genesis, design, and effects of regional organizations, Farnham: Ashgate Publ., 179-198

The chapter looks at the decision-making process in ECOWAS and asks under what conditions the regional organization intervenes in order to protect constitutional order in its member states. Finding that neither domestic nor international pressure is constitutive for such an action, he concludes that depending on the type of intervention a high democratic identity or a strong hegemonic interest are sufficient conditions for such an action.