Interethnic relations

Biafran ghosts : The MASOB Ethnic Militia and Nigeria’s Democratisation Process

Upphovsperson:	Okonta, Ike
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Conflict, Displacement and Transformation | Uppsala, Sweden
År:	2012
Ämnesord:	Nigeria, Biafra, Democratization, political development, Ethnicity, Ethnic groups, Interethnic relations, Social movements, nationalism, Political science, Statsvetenskap

The Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), an ethnicmilitia, emerged in the Igbo-speaking region of Nigeria in 1999, shortly after military rule ended and Olusegun Obasanjo took office as elected President. MASSOB’s stated goal is the struggle for Igbo self-determination and the re-emergence of a new sovereign state in the eastern part of the country to be known as the ‘United States of Biafra’, thereby raising the spectre of a possible break up of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. This Discussion Paper examines the circumstances of MASSOB’s emergence in a period of political transition and considerable uncertainty as the Nigerian armed forces began to prepare to relinquish their grip on power, and the specific ways the promoters of this ethnicmilitia movement have shaped Nigeria’s still unfolding democratization process since 1999.

Ethnicity and Democratisation in Africa : Challenges for Politics and Development

Upphovsperson:	Agbu, Osita A.
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Conflict, Displacement and Transformation | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2011
Ämnesord:	Ethnicity, ethnic conflicts, Interethnic relations, Democratization, politics, Nation-building, Citizenship, Africa, Political science, Statsvetenskap

This Discussion Paper explores the challenges that ethnicity poses for democratisation and development in Africa. It provides an overview of the literature on ethnicity and democratisation and an analysis of the trends on the continent since the end of the Cold War. In this regard, it critically examines perspectives on the impact of ethnicity on democracy and analyses the ethnicity-citizenship nexus in the context of the national democratic question in Africa. This provides the basis for the analysis of emerging challenges facing Africa and the way forward. The paper provides additional insights into the ongoing debates about democracy and the nation-state question in Africa and is of interest to scholars, practitioners and the general reader.