In 1988 the leaders of Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia gathered to lay the framework for what would later become the Arab Maghreb Union (AMU), a regional organization mandated with several responsibilities, the most prominent of which is to facilitate regional economic integration between the five North African states. Over the years, the AMU has sought to establish itself as a veritable trading regime on par with the European Union (EU) in terms of scope and depth, but the organization’s goals have not been realized, nor have the region’s economies come even close to the integration found between other regional organizations. While its members or leadership might not be at fault, the AMU specifically, and regional economic integration in general, need a rethink as other opportunities present themselves in the near future. Caught between saving a defunct organization like the AMU or starting anew with Europe under the framework
