Participatory Trade Politics: West African Civil Society Participation in Economic Partnership Negotiations with the EU

Trade institutions increasingly recognise the need to enhance trade policy's legitimacy from the point of view of citizens. I present a case study of West African trade politics, where public trade institutions expanded cooperation with critical civil society organisations in trade decision-making to a level of qualitative involvement and influence that is rare in real life trade politics. My research suggests that West African participatory trade politics evolved within the political, economic and social context specific to the region. Strong asymmetries in terms of economic weight and negotiating capacity, adherence to specific norms and principles and general ‘good governance’ criteria, as well as past and present collective experiences with European trade structured the context of EPA negotiations. Their integration into broader North-South and South-South transnational networks enabled West African civil society organisations to recognise and use the political opportunity for breaking into the policy process that the structures provided. In addition, they also created and strengthened political opportunity by framing the West African EPA debate in ways that was conducive to their participation and by spawning solidarity with public trade officials that helped to overcome heated debates over diverging normative preferences for trade policy. West African public officials changed their view on civil society organisations because they proved to be beneficial allies in trade negotiations from their perspective. Added technical capacity and unexpected influence in highly asymmetrical trade negotiations strengthened West African trade officials’ belief in the legitimate character of inclusive trade policy-making mechanisms. Thus, I argue that we must take the economic and social dimensions of the trading activity seriously in our analysis of the political economy of trade. The interplay between these two is key to explaining why public officials changed their attitude towards civil society actors and started incorporating them in trade policy-making processes in West Africa.