Breakdown and Reconstitution: Democracy, The Nation-State, and Ethnicity in Nigeria

by Abu Bakarr Bah Northern Illinois Univers

Overview

Breakdown and Reconstitution analyzes the interplay between democratization, nation-state building, and ethnicity in Nigeria as well as the challenges of transforming a post-colonial multiethnic state into a stable democracy. This work draws attention to the intrinsic relation between the breakdown of quasi-democracy and the reconstitution of a more inclusive democracy and nation-state. Breakdown and Reconstitution is an essential source for scholars of politics in Africa.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780739109540
Publisher:	Lexington Books
Publication date:	04/19/2005
Pages:	210
Product dimensions:	6.04(w) x 9.24(h) x 0.82(d)

About the Author

Abu Bakarr Bah is assistant professor of sociology at Northern Illinois University.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction: Democracy, the Nation-State, and Ethnicity
Chapter 2 The Genesis of Nigeria and the Elimination of the Common Enemy
Chapter 3 Ethnicity and the Breakdown of Democracy and the Nation-State
Chapter 4 Nation-State Building in Post-Colonial Nigeria
Chapter 5 Varieties of Institutional Design in Post-Colonial Nigeria
Chapter 6 Conclusion: The Breakdown and Reconstitution of Democracy in a Post-Colonial Multiethnic Nation-State

Editorial Reviews

This book goes a long way towards redirecting the often unhelpful literature on ethnicity in Nigeria.

African Affairs

[Bah] strives to understand the place of ethnicity in the breakdown and reconstitution of democracy and the nation-state, which he largely accomplishes through an historically grounded approach tracing Nigeria's conundrums to their colonial antecedents. Bah kills two birds with the same stone: providing a panoramic overview of the Nigerian state and the travails of democracy and nation-building.

Journal of Political and Military Sociology - Ebenezer Obadare

An admirably informed and insightful analysis of the challenge posed to consolidation of a stable democratic order in Nigeria by its ethnic diversity. Abu Bakarr Bah, drawing largely on Nigerian sources, explores the paradox of the counter-productive shift to centralization in spite of the repeated constitutional affirmation of the federal character of this multi-ethnic state. The clear failure of authoritarian military rule richly documented by the author demonstrates the necessity of democratic rule, but Bah also shows the limits of democratic formulas thus far devised in containing explosive ethnic tensions.

M. Crawford Young

The author's focus is clearly stated: 'In Nigeria, ethnicity has been a prime cause of political instability and the breakdown of law and order.' Readers in search of a carefully crafted analytical account of Nigeria's political development will find this relatively brief study rewarding and refreshing.. . .The bibliography includes an extensive collection of Nigerian government documents as well as the substantial literature on African political development.. .. Recommended. Upper-division undergraduate and graduate collections.

Choice Reviews - M.E. Doro

This book goes a long way towards redirecting the often unhelpful literature on ethnicity in Nigeria.

October 2008 African Affairs

The author's focus is clearly stated: 'In Nigeria, ethnicity has been a prime cause of political instability and the breakdown of law and order.' Readers in search of a carefully crafted analytical account of Nigeria's political development will find this relatively brief study rewarding and refreshing. . . .The bibliography includes an extensive collection of Nigerian government documents as well as the substantial literature on African political development. . . . Recommended. Upper-division undergraduate and graduate collections.--M.E. Doro, emerita "CHOICE "

An admirably informed and insightful analysis of the challenge posed to consolidation of a stable democratic order in Nigeria by its ethnic diversity. Abu Bakarr Bah, drawing largely on Nigerian sources, explores the paradox of the counter-productive shift to centralization in spite of the repeated constitutional affirmation of the federal character of this multi-ethnic state. The clear failure of authoritarian military rule richly documented by the author demonstrates the necessity of democratic rule, but Bah also shows the limits of democratic formulas thus far devised in containing explosive ethnic tensions.--M. Crawford Young, University of Wisconsin, Madison (emeritus)

[Bah] strives to understand the place of ethnicity in the breakdown and reconstitution of democracy and the nation-state, which he largely accomplishes through an historically grounded approach tracing Nigeria's conundrums to their colonial antecedents. Bah kills two birds with the same stone: providing a panoramic overview of the Nigerian state and the travails of democracy and nation-building.--Ebenezer Obadare, London School of Economics "Journal of Political and Military Sociology "

From the Publisher

[Bah] strives to understand the place of ethnicity in the breakdown and reconstitution of democracy and the nation-state, which he largely accomplishes through an historically grounded approach tracing Nigeria's conundrums to their colonial antecedents. Bah kills two birds with the same stone: providing a panoramic overview of the Nigerian state and the travails of democracy and nation-building.
— Ebenezer Obadare, London School of Economics

Journal of Political and Military Sociology

The author's focus is clearly stated: 'In Nigeria, ethnicity has been a prime cause of political instability and the breakdown of law and order.' Readers in search of a carefully crafted analytical account of Nigeria's political development will find this relatively brief study rewarding and refreshing. . . .The bibliography includes an extensive collection of Nigerian government documents as well as the substantial literature on African political development. . . . Recommended. Upper-division undergraduate and graduate collections.
— M.E. Doro, emerita

Choice