The Lagos plan of action and Africa's future international relations: projections and implementations for policymakers

Abstract

The Lagos Plan of Action. (LPA) is predicated upon the concept of collective self-reliance, which is a relative concept. It does not mean autarky, in which Africa would delink itself from the rest of the world, supplying all of its own needs and only its own needs. A total withdrawal from the larger global society is probably no longer feasible even were it to be de sired. The "interdependence" of all peoples is not only a fashionable concept in the industrialized world; it is an inescapable reality both in the economic sense and in terms of the hazards of nuclear, chemical and biological warfare; in terms of environ mental phenomena such as acid rain and the greenhouse effect; in terms of management of the global commons such as the marine food supply; and in terms of a host of other supra-national issues.