An introduction to the politics and society of post-colonial Nigeria, highlighting the key themes of ethnicity, democracy, and development.

This book focuses on the Boko Haram insurgence in Nigeria, and provides information on the origin and growth of the sect, antecedent and historical factors behind the insurgence, assessing a variety of socio-political drivers. The structure, organization and ideology of the sect are analysed, paying attention to internal splits within the group, as well as external relations with the Nigerian state, and global jihadism. The diverse and wide ranging issues covered in the book makes it valuable for academic researchers, students and policy practitioners both within Africa and beyond.

Twenty essays by four generations of Nigerian scholars are included in this volume, the first to examine the historical, political, economic and comparative dimensions of attempts by the military to restructure the Nigerian federation. Evidence is accumulated in support of the book's central thesis that autocratic rule is antipathetic to the sustenance of genuine federal practice, and that federal restructuring initiated under the tight control of repressive governments cannot but lead to a situation in which federalism is assaulted, if not dismantled. It is argued that, in such a context, the vending of a federal doctrine becomes more or less an exercise in the propagation of false consciousness in the service of power - portraying a picture of divided power to hide the reality of undivided power.

DIVExamines the role of media technologies in shaping urban Africa through an ethnographic study of popular culture in northern Nigeria./div

Examines how Salafism, a globally influential Muslim movement, is reshaping religious authority in Nigeria, Africa's most populous country.

A comprehensive study of religious violence and aggression in Nigeria, notably its causes, consequences, and the options for conflict resolution. Violence in Nigeria is the most comprehensive study of religious violence and aggression in Nigeria, notably its causes, consequences, and the options for conflict resolution. After an analysis of the links between religionand politics, the book elaborates on all the major cases of violence in the 1980s and 90s, including the Maitatsine, Kano, Bauchi, Kaduna, and Katsina riots. Zones of religious tensions are identified, as well as general characteristics of violence in Nigeria; and issues in inter and intra-religious relations, relious organizations, and the states, and the main actors in the conflicts are explored in great detail. A product of extensive primary research, Violence in Nigeria makes a contribution to contemporary social and political history that no previous study has attempted, and it is written to appeal to specialists and non-specialists alike. Toyin Falola is the Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities and University Distinguished Teaching Professor at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the author or editor of over a dozen books dealing with the history of Nigeria, its people, their religion and politics.

A revisionist examination of the important, yet often misrepresented, interplay between ideology and pragmatism in the interaction between the Third World and superpowers, this book explores the dynamics between Nigeria and the USSR from the time of Nigerian independence in 1960 up to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. The author effectively argues that while the generic West may have underdeveloped' Africa, the continent's response to the challenges and opportunities presented by the Northern Hemisphere was progressively active and enterprising.'