The Gambia and the 2016/2017 Political Impasse: An Impact Assessment of the Peace and Security Implications on the Nation’s Economy and the International Legal Justifications for/against ECOWAS Intervention, January, 2017- February, 2018

Abstract

A synopsis of the December, 2016-January, 2017 political impasse in the Gambia is made in this piece as a prelude to its impact assessment and general overview on the political economy of the country. Given the occurrence and the role played by the sub-regional body called ECOWAS (The Economic Community of West African States) in settling the impasse from outside, the piece pays attention to the reasons underscoring these ECOWAS diplomatic and military moves and the politics behind the action. The piece unveils the arguments generated from quarters, especially the intellectual and expert circles on the international legal justification (s) for ECOWAS military wing’ involvement and the manner such action was dispensed to help the new government claim its mandate and make the out gone government abdicate peacefully.A literature review of the relevant texts and available legal instruments from existing international institutions like the United Nations, the African Union among others is undertaken for empirical- verifiable justifications that are value-free. This is complimented by a historical-descriptive analysis narrative that details the accounts of events, using intellectual lenses for investigative conclusions. The research offers useful recommendations that provide both the government of the Gambia and ECOWAS as the sub-regional institution or regime necessary answers to permanent peace and development in the Gambia and the region at large, alluding to the fact that the peace attained in the country and its ECOWAS sub-region is a concomitant reflection of the world peace and relative security that the UN stands for.

Keywords: Political impasse, Economy, ECOWAS, Other Institutions, Preventive Diplomacy, Peace and security, Justifications, The Gambia.