A critical analysis of liberal rationale of the ECOWAS intervention in the Gambia 2016

Abstract

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) military intervention in The Gambia was a result of president Jammeh's refusal to cede power in 2016 presidential election winner Adama Barrow. The intervention was seen as a successful regional mechanism in promoting democracy in a coup-prone region. The intervention motives are framed in line with maintenance of democratic principle hence the code name of the intervention, “intervention to restore peace”. However, there are no international or regional legal frameworks under which military intervention can be justified in the Gambian situation under the pretext ‘restore democracy’. Thus, ECOWAS undermines its own legal frameworks on justifiable cases of military means and the UN charter as the custodian of international peace and security. This thesis seeks to understand why ECOWAS reject UNSC resolution on political means. This study hypothesizes that, the ECOWAS intervention in The Gambia was influenced by the hegemonic interests of regional powers and the national interests of proximate states with significant stakes in the subregion. The findings reveal that Senegal as a proximity state and the hegemonic interests of Nigeria, result to the rejection of UNSC resolution to a political solution through diplomatic maneuver for a regional consensus on military intervention in the Gambia 2016.