Challenges to the Nation-state in Africa
Title | Challenges to the Nation-state in Africa PDF eBook |
Author | Adebayo O. Olukoshi |
Publisher | Nordic Africa Institute |
Total Pages | 222 |
Release | 1996 |
Genre | Political Science |
ISBN |
The challenges facing the nation-state in contemporary Africa are increasingly attracting the attention of scholars interested to understand how the decomposition and recomposition of popular political identities on the continent are affecting the post-colonial unitary project. The studies presented in this volume show that the challenges to the post-colonial nation-state project in Africa have mainly taken ethno-regionalist, religious and separatist forms. These challenges have been shaped by the long drawn-out economic crisis, zero-sum, market-led structural adjustment, and the legacy of decades of political authoritarianism and exclusion that dates from the colonial period. The contributors to this book present different suggestions to promote national unity and a supporting civic identity in Africa.
Nigeria and the Nation-State
Title | Nigeria and the Nation-State PDF eBook |
Author | John Campbell |
Publisher | Rowman & Littlefield |
Total Pages | 311 |
Release | 2020-12-02 |
Genre | Political Science |
ISBN | 1538113767 |
Nigeria matters. It is Africa’s largest economy, and it is projected to become the third most populous country in the world by 2050, but its democratic aspirations are challenged by rising insecurity. John Campbell traces the fractured colonial history and contemporary ethnic conflicts and political corruption that define Nigeria today. It was not—and never had been—a nation-state like those of Europe. It is still not quite a nation because Nigerians are not yet united by language, religion, culture, or a common national story. It is not quite a state because the government is weak and getting weaker, beset by Islamist terrorism, insurrection, intercommunal violence, and a countrywide crime wave. This deeply knowledgeable book is an antidote to those who would make the mistakes of Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq—mistakes based on misunderstanding—in Nigeria. Up to now, such mistakes have largely been avoided, but Nigeria will soon—and Campbell argues already does—require much greater attention by the West.
Perspectives on Nation-State Formation in Contemporary Africa
Title | Perspectives on Nation-State Formation in Contemporary Africa PDF eBook |
Author | Godknows Boladei Igali |
Publisher | Trafford Publishing |
Total Pages | 339 |
Release | 2014-04-15 |
Genre | History |
ISBN | 1490720901 |
The challenge of state formation and national integration is evident, and the need for a solution is even more demanding in places like Africa where nation states were formed under very special historical circumstances. In Perspectives on Nation-State Formation in Contemporary Africa, author Godknows Boladei Igali presents a digest that examines the challenges of state formation and national integration in Africa and offers preferred solutions within the context of the symbolic diversities. In this study, Igali outlines the immediate context and challenges of national integration in Africa in its human dimension. He reviews the political formations of ancient Africawhich varied in size, philosophical premise, and organisational structuresand discusses partition, military invasions, conquest, and colonisation. He then addresses colonial rule or administration, African nationalism, and decolonisation and analyses the process of nation-state formation in post-independent Africa from the perspective of the political systems and ideologies Reviewing a wide range of time from ancient times through the colonial period and since independence, this survey discusses the processes of national integration and nation-state formation in Africa, providing perspectives that deepen the understanding of these nation-building processes.
Nation-states and the Challenges of Regional Integration in West Africa
Title | Nation-states and the Challenges of Regional Integration in West Africa PDF eBook |
Author | Joseph Saye Guannu |
Publisher | KARTHALA Editions |
Total Pages | 122 |
Release | 2010 |
Genre | Africa, West |
ISBN | 2811103503 |
The Nation-State
Title | The Nation-State PDF eBook |
Author | John Markakis |
Publisher | |
Total Pages | |
Release | 2021 |
Genre | Africa, Northeast |
ISBN | 9783945561560 |
Africa and the Nation-state
Title | Africa and the Nation-state PDF eBook |
Author | Lamont DeHaven King |
Publisher | |
Total Pages | 256 |
Release | 2006 |
Genre | History |
ISBN |
This book challenges socio-historical analyses that posit a relationship between modernity and the nation-state. It questions whether the nation-state is a distinctively European phenomenon that emerged as a result of some combination of the development of capitalism and the legacy of citizenship derived from the French Revolution. The book defines the state, differentiates it from the nation, and in so doing, defines the nation-state.
Failed and Failing States
Title | Failed and Failing States PDF eBook |
Author | Raj Bardouille |
Publisher | Cambridge Scholars Publishing |
Total Pages | 198 |
Release | 2010-01-08 |
Genre | Political Science |
ISBN | 1443818844 |
State collapse is one of the major threats to peace, stability, and economic development in sub-Saharan Africa today. In a collapsed state the regime finally wears out its ability to satisfy the demands of the various groups in society; it fails to govern or to keep the state together. The collapse is marked by the loss of control over political and economic space. A collapsed state can no longer perform its basic security and development functions and has no effective control over its territory and borders. Efforts to avoid drawing other nations into a wider conflict created by the collapse of a state—and creating favorable conditions for reconciliation and reconstruction of a failed state after it has collapsed—present major challenges. In April, 2008 the Cornell Institute for African Development called a symposium on ‘Failed and Failing States in Africa: Lessons from Darfur and Beyond’ to address these critical issues. Key contributions to the symposium are brought together in this volume. Taken together these essays represent a significant discussion on the challenges presented by the presence of failing states within Africa.