State Power, Autarchy, and Political Conquest in Nigerian Federalism

By (author) Kalu N. Kalu

Not available to order

Publication date:

01 January 1955

Length of book:

330 pages

Publisher

Lexington Books

ISBN-13: 9780739129920

This book shows how specific historical events and societal forces within Nigeria transcend the choices its political leaders have made to influence the course of the state's political development. Kalu N. Kalu describes a variety of factors that have contributed to the challenges facing state-building and political institutions in Nigeria. Chief among them are the nature of interest aggregation, the dynamics of conflict, and the patterns of state intervention in matters dealing with secularism, distributive politics, economy, security, and autonomy. Kalu succeeds in constructing a more organic concept of political development in Nigeria by creating a model based on rentier politics that captures the critical relationship between state power and economy. By doing so, he goes beyond current scholarship about Nigeria and demonstrates the need for a restructuring of its institutions, offering insight into an enduring narrative that continues to shape Nigerian politics.
Kalu N. Kalu's State Power, Autarchy, and Political Conquest in Nigerian Federalism boldly challenges the established wisdom that ethnicity drives conflict and holds back Nigeria, pushing us instead to look at what he sees as the structural defects in the Nigerian federation, for which he prescribes a consociational remedy. This timely book offers an extensive survey of the literatures on Nigerian history, political economy, democracy, political culture, and ethno-religious conflicts to give us multiple perspectives on the multifaceted problems preventing progress in Nigerian political development. Through this, he gives readers much to consider on what the proper crafting of political institutions would entail if democracy is to survive in Nigeria, with implications for Africa writ large. Constitutional scholars will find Kalu's line-by-line commentary on the Nigerian Constitution of particular interest.