Legal harmonization as an integration tool: an analysis of institutional efforts to harmonize business law, intellectual property law, and commercial law on the African continent

The subject of the research is the process of legal harmonization in the field of business law, commercial law, and intellectual property law as a key tool for economic and legal integration on the African continent. Legal harmonization is a crucial instrument for deepening economic and political integration in Africa. This article is dedicated to a comprehensive analysis of institutional efforts to converge legal systems in the areas of business law, intellectual property, and commercial law. It explores the role of major regional economic communities and specialized organizations in forming a unified legal field. Special attention is paid to the challenges associated with colonial legacies, the diversity of legal traditions, and differences in levels of economic development. The article analyzes the impact of legal harmonization on attracting investment and developing small and medium-sized enterprises. It evaluates the effectiveness of existing legal frameworks and models. Based on the analysis conducted, conclusions are drawn about the prospects and further directions of legal integration in Africa. The study is based on institutional analysis, allowing for the examination of the role, competence, and effectiveness of key integrative institutions. A comparative legal method is applied to compare harmonization approaches, as well as to analyze the relationship between supranational norms and national legislation. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the comprehensive and multi-level analysis of the harmonization of key sectors of law (business, commercial, and intellectual property law) in the African context, which allows for the identification of common patterns, imbalances, and specifics at the continental level. The main conclusions are as follows: Legal harmonization in the examined areas is a means to an end rather than an end in itself; it is a functional tool for implementing broader projects—creating the African Continental Free Trade Area and a Single African Market. The most significant successes have been achieved at the regional level, while continental harmonization is at the stage of forming common frameworks and strategies, facing the problem of uneven integration speed. Key institutional challenges include the duplication of functions, jurisdictional competition, weak implementation and monitoring mechanisms, as well as a lack of expert capacity at the national level.