Nigeria and the Nation-State: Rethinking Diplomacy with the Postcolonial World

by John Campbell

Overview

Nigeria, despite being the African country of greatest strategic importance to the U.S., remains poorly understood. John Campbell explains why Nigeria is so important to understand in a world of jihadi extremism, corruption, oil conflict, and communal violence. The revised edition provides updates through the recent presidential election.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781538197806
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	09/03/2024
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

John Campbell is former Ralph Bunche Senior Fellow for Africa Policy Research at the Council on Foreign Relations. He is the author of Nigeria: Dancing on the Brink and Morning in South Africa, and co-author of Nigeria: What Everyone Needs to Know. From 1975 to 2007, Campbell served as a U.S. Department of State Foreign Service officer. He served twice in Nigeria, as political counselor from 1988 to 1990, and as ambassador from 2004 to 2007. Campbell’s additional overseas postings include Lyon, Paris, Geneva, and Pretoria. He also served as deputy assistant secretary for human resources, dean of the Foreign Service Institute’s School of Language Studies, and director of the Office of UN Political Affairs.

Table of Contents

Map of Nigeria

Preface (Revised)

Acknowledgments

Author’s Note

Timeline of Nigerian Political History

Introduction (Revised)

1 The Origins of Nigeria

2 Nigerians

3 The State of Nigeria

4 Sharing the Cake

5 The Elections of 2023 (new)

6 Falling Apart

7 International Relations and a Prebendal Archipelago

8 A New Approach

Conclusion: Thinking Differently

Notes

Selected Bibliography

About the Author

Editorial Reviews

10/05/2020

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. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

Campbell’s main argument here is that American diplomacy toward Nigeria should cease to operate on the assumption that Nigeria is a “traditional” nation-state and should instead treat it more as a “prebendal archipelago” of loosely connected elite interests with largely predatory relationships to the national government.... the call from a former US ambassador to steer American diplomacy away from humoring a chronically corrupt and ineffective state and toward assisting Nigeria’s “better angels” engaged in anti-corruption and pro-democracy movements is a welcome intervention. Recommended.

Choice Reviews

Drawing on his long experience, deep knowledge, and remarkable career as a diplomat, together with the rich sources of information he has gathered from scholars, public intellectuals, and activists, John Campbell provides rich insights into the social, political, and economic life of Nigeria. His perceptive analysis of the difficult terrain and multiple challenges the country has faced over its sixty years of independence make his timely book an essential resource for understanding Nigeria’s place— past and present—in the world today.

Jacob Olupona

Nigeria is a pivotal state in Africa by virtue of its population, economic possibilities, fledgling democracy, and regional position. Yet the country has perennially struggled with political instability, economic stagnation, corruption, and internal conflict. John Campbell is among the most astute observers of Nigeria and a thoughtful voice on US relations with the continent. His prescriptions in this book draw upon realistic assessments of the Nigeria prospect and the potential of American policy.

Peter Lewis

Ambassador Campbell is an experienced US diplomat and longtime friend of Nigeria. This book provides candid insights into the dynamics, challenges, and pitfalls of Nigeria’s struggle to become a cohesive twenty-first-century polity and how our bilateral relations can be strengthened. I strongly recommend it to all who wish to understand one of the most consequential countries in the world.

John N. Paden

Nigeria, according to John Campbell, is ‘big, important, and troubled.’ Islands of authority are surrounded by seas of ungoverned spaces. At the heart of the Nigerian paradox is the persistence of a state that generates enormous benefits for elites while the population grows ever poorer. Campbell argues the need to ‘rethink Nigeria’ and calls for decentralized approaches to its multiplying travails. This timely book will be keenly read by scholars, diplomats, and the general public. They will be intrigued by an analysis applicable to many postcolonial entities in which elite predation and popular insecurity are interwoven.

Richard Joseph

Campbell’s main argument here is that American diplomacy toward Nigeria should cease to operate on the assumption that Nigeria is a “traditional” nation-state and should instead treat it more as a “prebendal archipelago” of loosely connected elite interests with largely predatory relationships to the national government.... the call from a former US ambassador to steer American diplomacy away from humoring a chronically corrupt and ineffective state and toward assisting Nigeria’s “better angels” engaged in anti-corruption and pro-democracy movements is a welcome intervention. Recommended.

Choice