Somedays, These Things Work

I've occasionally mentioned the African Union as one of the many examples of regional blocs forming around the world, in most cases as a response to globalization or American unipolarity. ASEAN in particular is almost explicitly anti-American in it's formation, and in the intentions of it's members. Not that there's anything wrong with that...

But back to the African Union. Founded in 2002, it's probably the most improbable regional organization imaginable, simply because of Africa's numerable and apparently insurmountable problems. But today the AU won a fight outright - a small one, but these things all start small. AU pressure has led a military coup in Togo to surrender and allow elections to occur. Now, obviously, there's a long way to go, but this is hopefully a harbinger of things to come. Zimbabwe has elections coming up in the next few months, where the AU will undoubtedly make itself felt once again.

Some commentators I've read are speaking about 2005 as a turning point for Africa. Well, put this fact under the column marked "yes".