Overview

Nigeria, despite being the African country of greatest strategic importance to the U.S., remains poorly understood. John Campbell explains why Nigeria is so important to understand in a world of jihadi extremism, corruption, oil conflict, and communal violence. The revised edition provides updates through the recent presidential election.

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Reviews

Campbell (Nigeria: Dancing on the Brink), a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and former ambassador to Nigeria, documents the prospects and pitfalls facing Africa’s most populous country in this well-informed and highly specialized account. Chronicling the precolonial, colonial, and postindependence periods, Campbell cogently argues that Nigeria, divided by multiple languages, ethnicities, and religions, lacks a strong national identity . . . Packed with insider details of foreign policy-making and deep dives into Nigeria’s demographics and political history, this expert treatise will resonate with readers well-versed in the subject. * Publishers Weekly * Campbell’s main argument here is that American diplomacy toward Nigeria should cease to operate on the assumption that Nigeria is a “traditional” nation-state and should instead treat it more as a “prebendal archipelago” of loosely connected elite interests with largely predatory relationships to the national government.... the call from a former US ambassador to steer American diplomacy away from humoring a chronically corrupt and ineffective state and toward assisting Nigeria’s “better angels” engaged in anti-corruption and pro-democracy movements is a welcome intervention. Recommended. * Choice Reviews *

Author Information

John Campbell is former Ralph Bunche Senior Fellow for Africa Policy Research at the Council on Foreign Relations. He is the author of Nigeria: Dancing on the Brink and Morning in South Africa, and co-author of Nigeria: What Everyone Needs to Know. From 1975 to 2007, Campbell served as a U.S. Department of State Foreign Service officer. He served twice in Nigeria, as political counselor from 1988 to 1990, and as ambassador from 2004 to 2007. Campbell’s additional overseas postings include Lyon, Paris, Geneva, and Pretoria. He also served as deputy assistant secretary for human resources, dean of the Foreign Service Institute’s School of Language Studies, and director of the Office of UN Political Affairs.

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