Interstate Dissonance A Damper to Regional Integration: A Case Study of East African Community

The study has five objectives which are to identify the political, economic, social, cultural and technological barriers to the East African Community Integration. The study constitutes a literature review of research conducted on interstate dissonance that are a damper to regional integration. The study also provides a synopsis of, not only the findings made in the literature reviewed but also the methodology employed to unearth the respective findings. The study uses secondary data to answer the research questions in the analysis. Functionalism, neo-functionalism and realism have been used to consider the logic of integration. Each theoretical approach strains a diverse set of aspects in enlightening nation states ‘actions and the practices of integration. Some of the challenges to regional integration identified include; multiple memberships, non-trade barriers, challenge of online platforms which dealers use to report their grievances, challenge of making member states integrate regional treaties into national strategies, the issue of supranational entity, lack of support to the private sector, conflicts within states, poor infrastructure, corruption and poor governance, unharmonized presidential electro system, inefficient implementation of agreements and rapid increase in population. To curb these problems, the study recommends that, more effort is required in refining regional infrastructure, all the organs and foundations of the EAC will require to be transformed as set out in article 9 of the treaty, the EAC can see ways on how to harmonize the dominant domestic tax systems, laws and measures so as to decrease alterations and trafficking as well as presenting some level of expectedness in business transactions.