Ethno-Regionalism and the Origins of Federalism in Nigeria

Abstract

With a penetrating theoretical explanation of the structural configuration of power relations in Nigeria’s troubled postcolonial nation-state and society, Democracy and Prebendal Politics in Nigeria critically focuses on the major themes that have shaped Nigerian politics—especially the rationale and logic of power—since independence. In many ways, this groundbreaking book is unique because it is among only a handful of books in Nigerian political studies that provides a systematic, theoretical explanation of the dynamic processes of political power in Africa’s most populous and complicated nation-state, especially at a time when many political scientists were content to simply catalog the various issues that constituted the “crisis of the African nation-state.” Simply put, this landmark book’s most significant contribution lies in its rigorous theoretical exploration of the interconnections between Nigeria’s superimposed postcolonial nation-state and its diverse structures of society, paying careful attention to the dynamic nature of continuity and change since the decolonization process in the 1950s.