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.