The essay aims, in the first place, to analyse the paths of Pan-Africanism as the Other of Nationalism, that is, as a political and theoretical alternative to it in the anti-colonial struggle, and the implications of this rivalry. This analysis, situated in the field of Political Science and International Relations and based on African historiography, looks at the particular cases of Guinea-Bissau and Cabo Verde, in which the liberation movement, personified in the PAIGC, appears more internationalist and pan-Africanist than nationalist. At this point, the work briefly studies the complex reasons for the exclusion of pan-Africanist possibilities in the decolonisation agreements in favour of the establishment of the Eurocentric model of nation-states, which led to single-party systems, often radical, and with the support of the ideological blocs in confrontation in the context of the Cold War. In light of these historical obstacles to the affirmation of Pan-Africanism as the basis for continental regional integration, this essay seeks to show the current foundations and potential of Pan-Africanism as a theory of regional integration, taking as its inspiration the thinking of historical leaders and thinkers such as Kwame Nkrumah and Julius Nyerere, as well as more recent African thinkers.