Nigeria and the Nation-State
Rethinking Diplomacy with the Postcolonial World
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- $37.99
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- $37.99
Publisher Description
Nigeria matters. It is Africa’s largest economy, and it is projected to become the third most populous country in the world by 2050, but its democratic aspirations are challenged by rising insecurity. John Campbell traces the fractured colonial history and contemporary ethnic conflicts and political corruption that define Nigeria today. It was not—and never had been—a nation-state like those of Europe. It is still not quite a nation because Nigerians are not yet united by language, religion, culture, or a common national story. It is not quite a state because the government is weak and getting weaker, beset by Islamist terrorism, insurrection, intercommunal violence, and a countrywide crime wave.
This deeply knowledgeable book is an antidote to those who would make the mistakes of Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq—mistakes based on misunderstanding—in Nigeria. Up to now, such mistakes have largely been avoided, but Nigeria will soon—and Campbell argues already does—require much greater attention by the West.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Campbell (Nigeria: Dancing on the Brink), a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and former ambassador to Nigeria, documents the prospects and pitfalls facing Africa's most populous country in this well-informed and highly specialized account. Chronicling the precolonial, colonial, and postindependence periods, Campbell cogently argues that Nigeria, divided by multiple languages, ethnicities, and religions, lacks a strong national identity. Because the government is viewed by most Nigerians as an agency of exploitation on behalf of the elite, loyalty to it is low, Campbell writes, and the two major political parties are largely "indistinguishable." Campbell calls on the U.S. government to acknowledge this reality by refocusing its efforts from diplomatic interchanges with Nigeria's president and foreign ministry to public diplomacy and more engagement with "state, local, and traditional centers of powers," including religious leaders and the Lagos state government. In addition to the problems of environmental degradation, demographic explosion, and rapid urbanization, Campbell highlights major security challenges facing Nigeria, including the terrorist group Boko Haram, and analyzes these persistent crises against the recent backdrop of collapsing oil prices and the coronavirus pandemic. Packed with insider details of foreign policy-making and deep dives into Nigeria's demographics and political history, this expert treatise will resonate with readers well-versed in the subject.
