African Journal of
Political Science and International Relations

  • Abbreviation: Afr. J. Pol. Sci. Int. Relat.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN: 1996-0832
  • DOI: 10.5897/AJPSIR
  • Start Year: 2007
  • Published Articles: 401

AJPSIR Articles

Federalism and the search for national integration in Nigeria

September 2009

The thrust of this paper is to account for the gap between mere aspirations and actual practices vis-à-vis the management of Federalism in Nigeria. The paper begins with the plural character of Nigeria in all its ramifications which makes federalism compelling. The second part which is the theoretical anchor is an in-depth discussion of the general optimism in the literature as regards the capability of...

Author(s): Emmanuel O. Ojo    

Falsification of population census data in a heterogeneous Nigerian state: The fourth republic example

August 2009

This paper examines critically the controversy surrounding the recently concluded population census in Nigeria which came up between March 21 and 25, 2006. While population census is a deliberate attempt to enumerate people within a delimited territory at a specific time so as to determine their number, their contribution over the land area and their basic socio-demographic and economic characteristics, many of such...

Author(s): Bamgbose, J. Adele  

Africa and the challenges of unipolar world: Sovereignty, civil society and women’s rights as case studies

August 2009

Close to two decades after the emergence of unipolar world, more than ample opportunities are provided to access the impact of this phenomenon on Africa. It emergence ushered in what is known today as “global village”. Happenings in any state are no longer the exclusive preserve of the ‘village’ or ‘hamlet’ concerned but that of the entire globe. Sovereign nations in Africa and indeed...

Author(s): F. A. Olasupo  

Determinants of regime survival in Africa

August 2009

Political instability has arguably been the most important factor that defined the African political landscape for the past five post-independence decades. Few countries in the region were immune from the costly conflicts that afflicted the region. It is perhaps no surprise then that a growing volume of literature on African political economy chose to explain the lacklustre economic performance of the countries in terms...

Author(s): Michael Seifu    

“Locking-in” Liberal democracy in South Africa, explaining democratization through an alternative perspective

July 2009

As the state of South Africa transitioned from Apartheid and into democracy in 1994, many speculated whether South Africa’s democratic experiment would last beyond the initial presidency of then-President Nelson Mandela; fortunately democracy has appeared to have taken rather resilient roots since its inception. However such a development begs the question as to how can South African democratic successes is...

Author(s): Nicholas Knowlton    

The impact of manipulated re-elections on accountability and legitimacy of democratic regimes in Africa: Observations from Nigeria, Zambia and Kenya

July 2009

This study analyzes causes and impact of pharisaic free and fair elections on African democracies. It is absurd when democratic governments in Africa perform poorly in office, yet they continue to renew their mandates in supposedly free and fair elections. This problem derives from regarding political offices by incumbent elites as sources of private wealth accumulation without suffering negative consequences. This...

Author(s): U. B. Ikpe    

Godfatherism and the future of Nigerian democracy

June 2009

The study explores the relationship between godfathers and godsons with a particular attention to its influence on the development of Nigeria’s politics, and seeming demise of resourceful governance in the country. The study adopts unstructured interview to elicit the perception of actors’ involved and political elites, relying on qualitative and content analyses of data. The study found that there was a...

Author(s): O. Akinola Adeoye  

Assessing the quality of accountability in Ghana’s district assemblies, 1993 - 2008

June 2009

The article delineates the forms and mechanisms of accountability in Ghana’s District Assemblies (DAs) and probes their efficacy in the current decentralization policy. It provides empirical data on how accountability relationships have improved or not improved local democracy in Ghana. The DAs were created to be pillars of grassroots governance. The devolution of power to the DAs aimed at enhancing a system of...

Author(s): Emmanuel Debrah    

Igbo nation, modern statecraft and the geopolitics of national survival in a multiethnic Nigeria

May 2009

The central argument of the paper is that the Nigerian state has consistently failed in its efforts to address the structurally-defective pattern of governance characterized largely by imbalance and lopsidedness, particularly in the allocation and distribution of human and material (public) resources.  A situation where a country of this nature is being monopolized largely by one section or reign for the past four...

Author(s): Chris C. Ojukwu

The Niger Delta crisis: Issues, challenges and prospects

May 2009

Nigeria’s Niger Delta region is not only home to the greater part of Africa’s largest mangrove forest, but also the source of Nigeria’s oil wealth. Here, in this amazing network of creeks, and an aquatic splendor comprising marine, brackish and freshwater ecosystems, lie the operational bases of a kaleidoscope of ethnic militia and insurgent organizations dedicated to the socio-economic emancipation of...

Author(s): L. A. Afinotan and V. Ojakorotu

The concept of change and James N. Rosenau: Still international relations?

May 2009

This article aims to study issue of ‘change and continuity’ in the field of international relations and the capability of mainstream approaches of international relations and history to cover the issue of change from perspective of James N. Rosenau. The dynamics of change and statics of continuity, at micro and macro levels and interaction between two levels will be analyzed, with the aim of designing a...

Author(s): Murat Gül

Science and technology parks: An overview of the ongoing initiatives in Africa

May 2009

The aim of our study is to review the readiness of selected African countries to invest in Science and Technology Parks and manage them effectively. This is justified by the fact that the number of ongoing or foreseen projects aiming at the establishment of Science Parks is growing on one side. On another side, we observe simultaneously a persisting lack of critical scientific mass for knowledge production and the...

Author(s): Raymond Tavares

Poverty, oil exploration and Niger Delta crisis: The response of the youth

May 2009

Oil and gas have been described as the mainstay of the Nigerian economy today. The irony of it however, is that the Niger Delta areas, where the country’s oil wealth is being derived from, has been neglected since the 1970s that Nigeria’s oil boom became noticeable in the global market. Successive administration in the country have either paid lip attention to the prevalence of the magnitude of problems. The...

Author(s): Ajiboye Olanrewaju Emmanuel, Jawando Jubril Olayiwola, Adisa Waziri Babatunde

The legislatures in Africa: A trajectory of weakness

May 2009

The paper examined the historical underpinnings of the under-development ofrepresentative institutions in Africa. The author noted that notwithstanding its worldwideprevalence, the legislature had been involved in struggles for political power and relevance across political systems. Specifically, he viewed the African parliaments as products of specific historical...

Author(s): Mojeed  Olujinmi  A. Alabi

Dependency approach: Chances of survival in the 21st century

May 2009

Since the end of the Cold War, Dependency Approach has been facing a number of changes in the international system and had to deal with several theoretical challenges. But, whilst many academic writings emphasized the demise of Dependency Approach, this paper has endeavored to breathe life into Dependency thoughts by exploring what chances Dependency Approach has in order to remain effective and competitive. Deep...

Author(s): Sofiane Sekhri

The state, identity mobilization and conflict: A study of intra ethnic conflict in Ebira land, north central -Nigeria

May 2009

This study focused mainly on changes in the traditional institutions of governance occasioned by colonial rule and the impact of such changes on the organization of social life of erstwhile republican communities in Nigeria. These changes appeared to be the most fundamental and underlying cause of incessant violent conflicts and the seeming powerlessness on the part of State authorities to exert control and provide...

Author(s): Marietu O. Tenuche

Economic development and change in Tanzania since independence: The political leadership factor

May 2009

The author makes a critical examination of the contribution of political leadership in the economic development and change of Tanzania since her 1961 political independence from Britain. He divides the country’s economic development and change into three more or less discrete time epochs. The first epoch is the period from independence to 1967; the second is from the 1967 Arusha Declaration to the mid-1980s and...

Author(s): Honest Prosper Ngowi

Regimes as mechanisms for social order in international relation

April 2009

As the state centric realist approach and other paradigms to the study of international relations appears too limited for explaining an increasingly complex and interdependent world, the need for a search for new ways to organize intellectually and understand international activities arises. This paper attempts to improve on our understanding of international cooperation and social order in the international system...

Author(s): Sunday E .N. Ebaye

Is forgiveness and amnesty a panacea to Kenya’s post-conflict crisis?

April 2009

For a long period, Kenya was rightfully branded “Island of Peace” in the tumultant Eastern Africa Region. After the December, 2007 General Elections, the country plunged into civil war and rebellion especially in the region west of the great rift valley. Provinces located in the region: Rift Valley, Nyanza and Western witnessed: murder, looting, eviction, rape, arson, burning of food and food stores,...

Author(s): Nasongo, J. W., Achoka, J. S. K. and Wamocha L. L. M.

Whose e-governance? A critique of online citizen engagement in Africa

April 2009

This paper takes a critical look at the state of e-governance in Africa from the supply and demand points of view. The supply side refers to the readiness of African states to practice e-governance while the demand segment refers to the capacity and motivation of citizens to force e-governance on their representatives in government, the paper reviewed the state of e-readiness in the continent and concluded that the...

Author(s): Isaac Olawale Albert

Children’s human rights in underdeveloped country: A study in Ethiopian perspective

April 2009

Children have human rights like any human being. In addition to the general human rights they also have special rights because of their status of mental and psychical development due to age. According to the 1989 convention on the rights of the child, ‘in all actions concerning children whether undertaken by public or private social welfare institutions, courts of law, administrative institutions or legislative...

Author(s): Vaibhav Goel

The Nigerian state, political assassination and democratic consolidation: A historical exploration

April 2009

Given the current harvest of political assassinations that characterized the Nigerian political landscape and its worrisome nature, this paper, using a retrospective analysis of events, accepts the thesis that “the emergence of the Nigerian Colonial State is a by - product of a ‘fraudulent social contract’ and not of a ‘negotiated will’ of the wielded parts” (Ajetumobi,1991). As a...

Author(s): Olaopa Olawale Rafiu Akinola Owolabi and Salaam Najeem Folasayo

The African union, African diasporas and the quest for development: In search of the missing link

April 2009

As a development resource, the potential implications of the African diaspora are indubitable. Thus, in underscoring this recognition, the African union has sought to actively cultivate and engage the former as the missing link in the development efforts of the continent. Grounded on a political economy analysis, we argue this move is most salutary and, in deed, long overdue. However, it is grounded on a fallacious mode...

Author(s): Raphael O. Ogom

The most difficult decision yet: Ghana’s 2008 Presidential elections

April 2009

Ghana’s presidential election was held from 7 December 2008 through to 2 January 2009. The paper highlights the difficulty of choice between two good candidates which polarised the nation into two nearly equal halves. This paper also discusses the significance of the election to Africa and the rest of the international community. The article makes the point that the incumbent NPP administration would have won the...

Author(s): Michael Amoah

Voices, positions and empowerment: Women in the Kolkata urban context

March 2009

Interest in the urban space as distinct from the rural is an offshoot of the continuing concern with the city, as a necessary corollary of the postmodern debates. However the question has the city attaining to its exclusivity, or its distinctness, which it was supposed to attain still remains a problematic area, the argument has to be addressed anew from the perspective of various socio-political...

Author(s): Bonita Aleaz

Globalization, migration and the philosophy of in-ward looking: The contemporary Igbo nation in perspective

March 2009

The prevailing global order has maximally influenced the rate of migratory behaviour of people in recent times as so many individuals have been compelled by circumstances to shift bases. For instance, the rate of exodus of the cream of Igbos from their home-front in the last 30 years is excessive. It is a situation where about the weakest 30% of them are at home and the upper 70% of others live...

Author(s): Chris C. Ojukwu

Surviving in a hostile environment: An analysis of Zimbabwe’s foreign relations in 21st century international relations

March 2009

Zimbabwe at the turn of the new Millennium has received widespread condemnation particularly following abandonment of Structural Adjustment programmes (ESAP), intervention in Democratic Republic of Congo and with the implementation of the controversial land reform. The image portrayed abroad has been tattered because of reports of violence, instability and abandonment of the rule of law, which has created a serious...

Author(s): Percyslage Chigora and Didmus Dewa

Tobacco regulation in South Africa: Interest groups and public policy

March 2009

The article examines the role of interest groups in the adoption of comprehensive tobacco control policies in South Africa. While various studies have noted that interest groups shape and influence public policies especially in advanced industrialized polities, this study looks at the impact of tobacco control groups in regulating tobacco use in a developing, middle-income country, South Africa. Using interviews of...

Author(s): Bossman E. Asare

Administrative problems of state creation in Ekiti State, Nigeria

March 2009

The Nigerian Federal system is beset by a lot of complex challenges. One of such challenges is the seemingly implacable and intractable agitation for the creation of new states. The study explores the problems of state creation in Nigeria through a descriptive case study analysis of the politics of state re-organization in Ekiti State. The study specifically focuses on three major administrative challenges of state...

Author(s): Femi Omotoso

Do the people have faith in electoral democracy? Lessons from Kenyan 2007 presidential elections

February 2009

This paper seeks to examine the concept of mandate protection, its challenges and impact in building and strengthening electoral democracy in Kenya. It is the contention of this paper that in situations where citizens’ voice and choices are systematically negated communities have no alternative but to rise in resistance to protect the sanctity of their electoral mandates in a “non-violent” manner. It...

Author(s): Chris, M. A. Kwaja

Political education through the university: A survey of Nigerian university students

February 2009

The higher institutions are known for where ideologies are formed. They also serve as instruments of motivating students. Tertiary education in particular is fundamental to the construction of knowledge and knowledge itself has become a vital factor for political education. Nigerian students are politically active and have in no small measure influenced policies within their universities and in the nation as a whole....

Author(s): M.A. Adelabu and A.O. Akinsolu

Social inequity, democratic transition and the Igbo nationalism resurgence in Nigeria

February 2009

Between 1960 and 2008 Nigeria has been characterized by social inequities in the distribution of power and resources. These inequities, which are rooted in the foundation of the Nigerian state led to a civil war in 1967 in which the Igbo, one of the major ethnic groups sought to secede from Nigeria. But, the attempt was not successful. The war was followed by a number of systematic and calculated policies, which the...

Author(s): Duruji, Moses Metumara

The State and civil society in Africa: A North African perspective

February 2009

The concept of civil society is one of the most controversial in cultural and political circles in both of the Arab and African Worlds. Yet, it did not receive the appropriate attention of both its advocates and its detractors, who consider it to be the product of an alien civilization. Furthermore, the concept of civil Society was misused for political purposes, as, for example, some North African States reverted to it...

Author(s):   Hamdy Abdel Rahman Hassan  

The space for Congolese self-determination between absences and presences of the African Union and the United Nations

January 2009

The conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo demonstrates the many challenges that the international community (the UN and AU in this case) faces with its new self-proclaimed responsibility of reconstruction and state building. It is argued that both the UN and the AU would be more effective by guiding their strategies in light of the principle of self-determination. This approach would leave the necessary space for...

Author(s): Marta Iñiguez de Heredia

New regionalism in sub-saharan Africa: A means to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) and to legitimate democratic governments

January 2009

The regional integration process in Africa is increasingly becoming an indispensable instrument in the promotion of domestic and foreign direct investment (FDI), and as a means for the legitimization of the fragile nascent democratic government, which are slowly and painfully being put in place all over the continent. The achievement of these policy objectives for sub-Saharan African countries requires the...

Author(s): Elie Ngongang

Debating international relations and its relevance to the third world

January 2009

In 1935, Sir Alfred Zimmern described IR not as a single field or discipline, but a “bundle of subjects…viewed from a common angle” drawn toward questions of international and global continuity and change. However, since its emergence as a “formal separate discipline” of study IR manifests a very little emphasis from the point of view of the Global South realities. Generally, the study of...

Author(s): Boniface E.S. Mgonja and Iddi A.M. Makombe

Godfathers, political parties and electoral corruption in Nigeria

December 2008

Electoral corruption is mostly seen in Nigeria as a direct subversion of the electoral process by individuals, who are greedy for personal enrichment that electoral success underwrites in Nigeria. While not questioning the personal enrichment thesis of electoral corruption, as it is true, the paper adopts a more nuanced approach to the understanding of electoral corruption. It focuses on the realities of existence of...

Author(s): Omobolaji Ololade Olarinmoye

International politics of oil and the clash of dependencies

December 2008

The term dependency has a direct reference to the Southern developing nations, which through their underdeveloped state, are reliant on the Northern developed nations. However, the international oil politics gives a totally different picture of dependency. This is because Northern developed nations, disadvantaged in both reserves and production, but with a very large appetite for oil, are dependent on the South for he...

Author(s): Goke Lalude and Antonia T. Simbine

African philosophy and the method of ordinary language philosophy

December 2008

One of the vibrant topics of debate among African and non-African scholars in the 20th and 21st centuries centered on the existence of African philosophy. This debate has been described as unnecessary. What is necessary is, if African philosophy exists, we should show it, do it and write it rather than talking about it, or engaging in endless talks about it. A popular position on the debate is that what is...

Author(s): Fasiku Gbenga

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb: the evolution from Algerian Islamism to transnational terror

December 2008

For over the past half century, Algeria has suffered from on-going political violence and terrorism. The international rise of al-Qaeda has brought this radical movement to this already-troubled North African nation. This scholarly work describes in details how Algerian Islamism has evolved into transnational terrorism. Specifically, this paper will explore how al-Qaeda has now become deeply rooted in the Islamic...

Author(s): David H. Gray and Erik Stockham

Is there a monadic authoritarian peace: Authoritarian regimes, democratic transition types and the first use of violent force

November 2008

This paper examines conflict proneness of authoritarian states and tests whether the monadic democratic peace argument can be extended to explain the conflict behavior of authoritarian states. Previous works have examined the propensity of authoritarian states to engage in conflict in dyadic relations with other states, rather than directly examining the conflict propensity of these states using monadic...

Author(s): John Ishiyama, Ryan Conway and Katherine Haggans

The 2008 political parties’ code of conduct in Ghana: A toothless Bulldog?

November 2008

The idea of drafting a Code of Conduct for political parties in the run up to the December 2008 General Elections by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA-Ghana) under the auspices of the Ghana Political Parties’ Programme (GPPP) was hailed by many Ghanaians and political analysts as a step in the right direction. Indeed, the establishment and inauguration of enforcement bodies under the Code was seen as a useful...

Author(s): Ransford Edward Van Gyampo

UN discourse and information power: An illustration via HIV/AIDS news in Uganda

November 2008

International organizations disseminate vast amounts of information on social problems. To what extent does this dissemination manifest in discourse and information power? That is to say, how do country-level actors respond to international information on HIV/AIDS? This paper addresses this question using Uganda as case study and examines how actors adopt, modify, or ignore information disseminated by UN organizations....

Author(s): Tara Das

A myth and the reality: Does democratization bring investment?

August 2008

With the collapse of the Soviet Union and all it symbolized in 1991 especially the seeming triumph of neo liberalism, the democratization project became a bestseller and the tool of interference in the politics of nations. The platform of relationship is the implementation of the Washington Consensus by most countries. But the real bogey is the one that linked improvement in standard of living, investments, jobs and...

Author(s): Adoyi Onoja

Rational emotive behaviour therapy in improving retirees’ attitude towards political participation

August 2008

This study investigated the effectiveness of Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy in improving retirees’ attitude towards political participation. Twenty four retirees (mean age = 55.50 years) within Ilorin Metropolis participated in the study. They were randomly assigned to one treatment and one control groups. A validated instrument termed “Retirees’ Attitude towards Political Participation...

Author(s): Mary Ogechi Esere, Joshua A. Omotosho and Mary C. O. Arewah

Path to African security under the 21st century nuclear regime

January 2008

Historically, it is most unfortunate that not long after Africa extricated itself from the hellish pangs of colonialism spurned around her by the contradictions of industrial Revolution of the 19th century, the continent and the entire humanity for over 40 years have contended with global insecurity occasioned by the recent Cold War between the United States and the then Soviet Union. As the Cold War lasted, and...

Author(s): V. O. S. Okeke

Ripe without warning: Israel and Egypt 1967-1973

January 2008

Ripeness is a situation in which conflicting parties are prepared for peacemaking. Ripeness theory, as applied to international relations, however, tends to be tautological. For Israel and Egypt, the early 1970s were a turbulent period of international relations. The decisions of these two nations, specifically the decisions to go to war, were unexpected and unexplainable given current models of rational choice. Using...

Author(s): Brian Christopher Nethery Kelly

Yoruba politics 1999-2003

November 2007

  This paper examines the politics of ethnic mobilization. It uses as a case study, the political mobilization activities of one of the major ethnic groups in Nigeria, the Yoruba of the Southwest, to chart the sequence of relations between the ethnic group and the Nigerian State between 1999 - 2003. The paper argues that ethnic mobilization is not an anomic response to the disequilibria generated by...

Author(s): Omobolaji Ololade Olarinmoye

Corruption, Governance and Political Instability in Nigeria

November 2007

  The Nigerian State is a victim of high-level corruption, bad governance, political instability and a cyclical legitimacy crisis. Consequently, national development is retarded, and the political environment uncertain. The country’s authoritarian leadership faced a legitimacy crisis, political intrigues, in an ethnically - differentiated polity, where ethnic competition for resources drove much of the...

Author(s): Omololu Fagbadebo

Emerging markets in Africa

May 2007

Emerging markets present an exciting challenge for international finance and foreign investment. New markets hold both promise and peril. They have the potential for remarkably high returns, while simultaneously harbouring substantial risks. The objectives of this research are; 1) to refine our understanding of emerging markets based on new information about the foreign investment decision-making process, and 2) to more...

Author(s): J.R. Kehl

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