Impact of political risks in international marketing: the case of West Africa

1.1. Study area

The study area is Western Africa. It encompasses sixteen countries. They are Benin, Burkina Faso, Capo Verde, Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo. All of them are member countries of ECOWAS^4(*) except Mauritania. However, at the creation of the organization in 1975, Mauritania was member. It left ECOWAS later to join the Arabic community of the northern of Africa. ECOWAS covers all West African area, with a population of about 260 millions. ECOWAS encouraged free trade between member states but the cooperation is still more political than economic. To mitigate conflicts of the region, ECOWAS has established a West African force.

Union Economique et Monetaire Ouest Africaine (UEMOA)^5(*) is the French speaking countries economic integration group. It comprises of eight countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Guinea Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal, and Togo. Unlike ECOWAS, UEMOA is a full economic integration organization. There are no political activities. It constitutes a real free trade area. Transactions have being facilitated because countries members share the same currency, CFA ($ 1 = 500 CFA), and the same official language, French. They all have the same colonial background because they have been colonized by France, except Guinea Bissau that is a former Portuguese colony. Other countries, which own their currencies are Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, they form the West Africa Monetary zone (WAMZ), or simply called the second monetary zone [4].

1.2. Data sources, selection and analysis.

To assess political risks and markets patterns in West Africa, we rely on different data sources. Most data about political risks are difficult to be obtained, since governments are reluctant to publish and make official any political disturbances they may face. To this regards man relies on the author throughout knowledge of the region. Some historical archives were assessed though web site [4-6]. Also, we compiled data from the publications of ECOWAS, and UEMOA that is an economic grouping of French speaking countries libelled (Union Economique et Monetaire Ouest Africaine). We also, carried out some online researches by visiting main internet directories such Yahoo.com, Google.com. Key words like, «political risks, expropriation, domestication, confiscation, west African wars, Africa import and export, Gross domestic products Africa, », have been used. In addition, we interviewed some key workers of ECOWAS's economic branches. We assessed the official websites of the heads of states of West African countries, and some international political risks management -related organizations such as times publications, global assessment risk^6(*) [7-12]. For additional economic information and countries ranking indicators we refer to the journal, Le Monde [13]. Upon compilation of data, analysis has been performed by Excel to calculate, percentage, ratio, average, and sum, and make appropriate figures.

Chapter 2: Results and comments

* ⁴ ECOWAS, www.ecowas.int / www.cedeao.int

* ⁵ UEMOA, www.izf.net

* ⁶ www.aon.com; www.grai.com ; www.willis.com ; www.times-publications.com