Dilemmas of democracy in Nigeria

Political transition to democracy in Nigeria, under the auspices of a series of authoritarian military governments, has been prolonged and unfinished.

Vast sums of money and an increasing number of Nigerian lives have been sacrificed, and the more intangible costs - to the relations among and between the country's complex mosaic of ethnicities, religions and regions, and to its international relations - have been incalculable.

This text offers a multidisciplinary study of the historical, social and economic roots of both the effort and the failure to create democracy in Nigeria.

It includes contributions by 13 of the country's political analysts, as well as the perspectives of six American scholars known for their work on Nigeria.

Major episodes of transition to democracy, both of which were unsuccessful, are studied in detail, new interpretations of the patterns of regional and ethnic interaction and conflict are developed, and the outlook for democracy, internal peace and continued national existence is assessed.