The Introduction to this edited collection lays out the parameters of cross-border micro-regionalism in Africa. It discusses the different characteristics of micro-regions, and critically examines inherent weaknesses in dominant approaches to the study of regionalism, with their preoccupation with institutional state-centred rhetorical commitments and top-down formalism.

The rest of the book is divided into two parts, namely, ‘one that looks at how the informal informs the formal and vice versa, and one that concentrates pretty much on the informal in toto’ (p. 16). Specifically, the first part, comprising four chapters, examines case experiences that involve transforming informal conditions into formal formations, whilst the second, also of four chapters, ‘points to the dynamism of cross-border regionalization in conjunction with a disjuncture between the stability of boundary lines and the formation of regional spaces that straddle these lines’ (p. 178). The final wrap-up chapter succinctly captures old and new elements of the New Regionalism Approach (NRA), and neatly links these to the cases; it also brings the various strands together, and offers some theoretical insights mainly derived from the cases.

The subject of micro-regions in Africa, in the context of regionalisation and regional integration, has not received the attention it deserves, given the fact of their centuries-long existence throughout the continent. Researchers such as the editors of this volume who are advocating the NRA have sought to redress the situation. This edited volume adds to the growing number of published works on the subject.

The cases covered in the collection are very diverse. Each is rooted in realities on the ground, well researched, and with argumentation supported by adequate empirical evidence. They bring out the richness of the African experience with micro-regions, and most demonstrate ‘how the study of micro-regionalism in Africa warrants a focus on the identification of non-state players that best reveal themselves in the borderlands, where their capacity to penetrate state policies and territories is put to the test’ (p. 172). But this diversity in types of micro-regions discussed in the book is at the same time problematical, in that the analytical framework for each is different as are the questions of interest. They do not hang together. A common framework, it can be argued, would have facilitated comparisons and, based on the findings, made for generalisations which would constitute the basis for theory-building.

Of particular interest to this reviewer is Chapter 4 on the Zambia–Malawi–Mozambique Growth Triangle (GT) project, given that he actively participated in its conception and monitored execution from the early phases. From this vantage point three brief comments. First, it is relevant to observe that unlike most of the other cases in the book the GT was initiated and mainly supported by the UN system, and the participating stake-holders were predominantly international (pp. 92–4). In the other instances it is governments, local authorities and the private sector who are the main drivers. The implications of this fact should have been explored by the author.

Second, the chapter lacks balance and does not quite fit in with the others. For one, inordinate importance and space (pp. 94–102) is accorded to the ‘inefficiencies and incompetence’ (p. 100) of the GT secretariat, the limited number of programmed activities that have been implemented since its inception, and the motives, and even the integrity, of the initiator and the management of the project (pp. 99–100). For example the author points out that ‘one might propose a cronyism and bureaucracy storyline that the entire initiative is, in the end, a top-down effort to provide comfortable jobs for individuals who were no longer being employed by the UN, but who utilized the contacts made with donors during their UN employment to line up positions for themselves later’ (p. 102); and, ‘one “achievement” is that a coordinating secretariat has been established for the ZMM-GT. If one takes the view that the ZMM-GT is simply a way to attract funding to preserve the employment of individuals, then this is instantly understandable as being the main achievement of the initiative’ (pp. 100–1).

In actuality, like the Zambezi Valley Spatial Development Initiative, the GT is ‘a micro-region in the process of formation’ (p. 75). As rightly put by the contributor of the last chapter: ‘The ZMM-GT is the product of an inter-state initiative that still remains largely an idea in the making … The rhetorical and bureaucratic character of the project is a reminder of the all too familiar experience of weak institutional capacity and lack of internalization associated with state-driven regionalism’ (p. 177).

A final comment concerns the failure to link up the dynamics at the level of the micro-region to integration processes at the regional and continental levels, in line with the insistence of the NRA that regionalism takes place at different levels simultaneously and involves different categories of actors. In this regard the GT is an exception in that there is a conscious effort to be complementary to on-going formal integration in the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), and the African Union (AU) (pp. 95–7). Whether or not this is posturing or plain deception (as the author seems to suggest) is less consequential than the recognition of the potential contributions of a ‘bottom-up’ effort to regional integration.