Examines Nigeria's challenges with consolidating democracy and the crisis of governance arising from structural errors of the state and the fundamental contradictions of the society in Nigeria's Fourth Republic reflect a wider crisis of democracy globally. 'Today we are taking a decisive step on the path of democracy,' the newly sworn-in President Olusegun Obasanjo told Nigerians on 27 May 1999. 'We will leave no stone unturned to ensure sustenance of democracy, because it is good for us, it is good for Africa, and it is good for the world.' Nigeria's Fourth Republic has survived longer than any of the previous three Republics, the most durable Republic in Nigeria's more than six decades of independence. At the same time, however, the country has witnessed sustained periods of violence, including violent clashes over the imposition of Sharia'h laws, insurgency in the Niger Delta, inter-ethnic clashes, and the Boko Haram insurgency. Despite these tensions of, and anxieties about, democratic viability and stability in Nigeria, has democratic rule come to stay in Africa's most populous country? Are the overall conditions of Nigerian politics, economy and socio-cultural dynamics now permanently amenable to uninterrupted democratic rule? Have all the social forces which, in the past, pressed Nigeria towards military intervention and autocratic rule resolved themselves in favour of unbroken representative government? If so, what are the factors and forces that produced this compromise and how can Nigeria's shallow democracy be sustained, deepened and strengthened? This book attempts to address these questions by exploring the various dimensions of Nigeria's Fourth Republic in a bid to understand the tensions and stresses of democratic rule in a deeply divided major African state. The contributors engage in comparative analysis of the political, economic, social challenges that Nigeria has faced in the more than two decades of the Fourth Republic and the ways in which these were resolved - or left unresolved - in a bid to ensure the survival of democratic rule. This key book that examines both the quality of Nigeria's democratic state and its international relations, and issues such as human rights and the peace infrastructure, will be invaluable in increasing our understanding of contemporary democratic experiences in the neo-liberal era in Africa.

The Politics of Group Rights presents case studies from seven countries, illuminated by the latest insights from multicultural and group-rights theory. Cultural diversity has powerful political implications for both industrialized nations and developing countries. In the former, the granting of group rights is seen as a vital extension of liberal democracy, but critics point out that such rights should not negate the human rights of individuals. In developing countries, group rights are seen as indigenous to the prevailing cultural and religious traditions but often times negatively in relation to individual rights.

Analyses the complexities of Christian-Muslim conflict that threatens the fragile democracy of Nigeria, and the implications for global peace and security. In northern Nigeria, high levels of ethnic diversity have coincided with acute polarization between Muslims and Christians, increasingly fuelling violent conflict. The climate of insecurity threatens northern Nigeria's development, accentuates the inequalities between it and the rest of the country, and undermines the attempt to stabilize democracy in the country. Externally, fears have also been expressed that Islamist movements in northern Nigeria form part of a wider network constituting a threat to global peace and security. Refuting a "clash of civilizations" between Muslims and Christians, the authors of this new study highlight the multiplicity of Muslim and Christian groups contending for influence and relevance, and the doctrinal, political and historical drivers of conflict and violence between and within them. They analyse three of the most contentious issues: the conflicts in Jos; the Boko Haram insurgency; and the challenges of legal pluralism posed by the declaration of full Sharia law in 12 Muslim majority states. Finally, they suggest appropriate and effective policy responses at local, national and international levels, discussing the importance of informal institutions as avenues for peace-building and the complementarities between local and national dynamics in the search for peace. Abdul Raufu Mustapha is Associate Professor in African Politics, University of Oxford. David Ehrhardt is Assistant Professor of International Development at Leiden University College. Companion volume: Sects & Social Disorder: Muslim Identities &Conflict in Northern Nigeria edited by Abdul Raufu Mustapha (James Currey 2014) Nigeria: Premium Times Books

Analyses the complexities of Christian-Muslim conflict that threaten the fragile democracy of Nigeria, and the implications for global peace and security. In northern Nigeria, high levels of ethnic diversity have resulted in acute polarization between Muslims and Christians, increasingly fuelling violent conflict. The climate of insecurity threatens northern Nigeria's development, accentuates the inequalities between it and the rest of the country, and undermines the attempt to stabilize democracy in the country. Externally, fears have also been expressed that Islamist movements in northern Nigeria form partof a wider network constituting a threat to global peace and security. Refuting a "clash of civilizations" between Muslims and Christians, the authors of this new study highlight the multiplicity of Muslim and Christiangroups contending for influence and relevance, and the doctrinal, political and historical drivers of conflict and violence between and within them. They analyse some of the region's most contentious issues: conflict and peacebuilding in Jos; the Boko Haram insurgency; the informal economy; and the challenges of legal pluralism posed by the declaration of "full" Sharia law in 12 Muslim-majority states. Finally, they suggest appropriate and effective policyresponses at local, national, and international levels, discussing the importance of informal institutions as avenues for peace-building and the complementarities between local and national dynamics in the search for peace. Abdul Raufu Mustapha (deceased 2017), was Associate Professor in African Politics, University of Oxford. David Ehrhardt is Assistant Professor of International Development at Leiden University College, The Netherlands. Companion volume: Sects & Social Disorder: Muslim Identities & Conflict in Northern Nigeria edited by Abdul Raufu Mustapha (James Currey 2014) Nigeria: Premium Times Books

Ibrahim offers a comparative study of the democratic transitions in the Anglophone countries of West Africa, identifying regional trends and discreet factors. He argues that democracy is creeping up the agenda, owing to a detremined struggle for human rights and because democracy has been denied to the people for so long. He identifies a number of common issues across the region: the rise of a militarised secular state; a significant increase in public corruption; the primitive accumulation of capital; an intense battle to deepen democracy between civil society and the state; the appropriation of gender poltiics by the state through the office of the 'first ladies'; and the growing dissidence between elections and political choice. The study also addresses what may be considered an acceptable regional model in Ghana, and an unacceptable example in Liberia.

There is wide preoccupation with the vital issue of democracy in Africa, and its implication for the world at large. The reality is for the most part that on the African continent, democratic freedoms are suppressed; violence and atrocities flourish; and a critical mass of the citizens are disenfranchised with few or no rights in their own countries; for many, this process having been driven by their own governments. This book demonstrates that citizens have however always sought ways and struggled to expedite an arguably inevitable process towards greater freedom. It examines how barriers to democracy have been overcome in Nigeria; the legacy of the Babangida administration; state feminism and democratisation; civil society and democratisation, including the roles of the mass media, student vanguardism, intellectuals and academics, the left and trade unions; and liberties, rights, ethnicity and citizenship. Contributors to this book include Femi Falana, Amina Mama, Abdul Raufu Mustapha, Adebayo Olukoshi; and the editor, Jibrin Ibrahim, a leading political scientist, who published widely in English and French on democratisation, pluralism and religious conflict. The book was first published in 1997, has recently been reissued, and is widely available outside Africa for the first time. Of its time, the material made a forceful contribution to contemporary debates and reflected the progressive agenda; and as such is now valuable as recent history.

Eight of Africa's most distinguished scholars present reflections and cross-sectional analyses of the social, political and economic transformations in Africa since the end of the 1980s. The papers were presented at the 7th General Assembly of CODESRIA in Dakar; and the contributors have all been integral to the development and consolidation of CODESRIA's scientific pre-eminence. The papers monitor, identify and name the logic and dynamics of the current changes, and examination is made of the foundations of democratic discourses to determine their structuring. The contributors are Archie Mafeje, Eboe Hutchful, Eshetu Chole, Jibrin Ibrahim, Kankwenda Mbaya, Mahmood Mamdani, Peter Anyang'Nyong'o, and Thandika Makandawire.