Democracy and Prebendal Politics in Nigeria
The Rise and Fall of the Second Republic

Originally published in 1987, this book examines the relationship between the pattern of party formation in Nigeria and what is termed 'prebendalism'.

Richard A. Joseph (Author)

9781107633537, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 6 February 2014

250 pages
23 x 15.3 x 1.5 cm, 0.4 kg

Originally published in 1987, this book examines the relationship between the pattern of party formation in Nigeria and a mode of social, political and economic behaviour Richard Joseph terms 'prebendalism'. He demonstrates the centrality in the Nigerian polity of the struggle to control and exploit public office and argues that state power is usually viewed by Nigerians as an array of prebends, the appropriation of which provides access to the state treasury and to control over remunerative licenses and contracts. In addition, the abiding desire for a democratic political system is frustrated by the deepening of ethnic, linguistic and regional identities. By exploring the ways in which individuals at all social levels contribute to the maintenance of these practices, the book provides an analysis of the impediments to constitutional democracy that is also relevant to the study of other nations.

List of maps
List of tables
Acknowledgements
1. Introduction
Part I. The Problem of Democracy: 2. A democracy that works
3. Dilemmas of Nigerian democracy
Part II. Nigeria's Social Dynamics and Military Rule: 4. Politics in a multi-ethnic society
5. Clientelism and prebendal politics
6. Military rule and economic statism
Part III. The Return to Tripartism in the Second Republic: 7. Personality and alignment in Igbo politics
8. Ethnicity, faction and class in Western Nigeria
9. Northern primacy and prebendal politics: the making of the NPN
Part IV. The Crisis of Nigerian Democracy: 10. The challenge of the 1983 elections: a republic in peril
11. Electoral fraud and violence: the Republic's demise
12. Conclusion: democracy and prebendal politics in Nigeria
Notes
Select bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Postwar 20th century history, from c 1945 to c 2000 [HBLW3], African history [HBJH]