A Problematic Power: The Debate about Nigerian Foreign Policy in the 1980s

Andrew Young , 'The United States and Africa: Victory for Diplomacy ', Foreign Affairs, (Vol. 59, No. 3, 1981), p. 654.

Stephen Wright , 'Limits of Nigeria's Power Overseas', West Africa, (No. 3339, 27 July 1981), p. 1685.

President Alhaji Shehu Shagari , 'Annual Foreign Policy Address ', Nigerian Forum (Vol. 1, No. 6. August 1981), p. 204.

Oye Ogunbadejo , 'Nigeria's Foreign Policy under Military Rule, 1966-79', International Journal, (Vol. 35, No. 4, Autumn 1980), p. 763.

For an overview of the (limited) development of African foreign policy studies see Timothy M. Shaw , 'Foreign Policy, Political Economy and the Future: Reflections on Africa in the World System', African Affairs (Vol. 79, No, 315, April 1980, pp. 260-268 and 'Class, Country and Corporation: Africa in the Capitalist World System', in Donald 1. Ray, et.al. (cds.) Into the 80s: Proceedings of the 11th Annual Conference of the Canadian Association of African Studies (Vancouver: Tantalus, 1981), pp. 19-37.

See Jean Herskovits , 'Dateline Nigeria: a Black Power', Foreign Policy (Winter 1977-78), pp. 167-188; and ' Nigeria: Africa's New Power', Foreign Affairs (Vol. 53, No. 2, January 1975 ), pp. 314-333. See aiso Ibrahim A. Gambari , 'Nigeria and the World: a Growing Internal Stability, Wealth and External Influence', Journal of International Affairs (Vol. 29, No. 2, Fall 1975), pp. 155-169.

See Africa Economic Digest (Vol. 3, No. 23, 4-10 June 1982), pp. 2-3 and 'Nigeria: an Africa Economic Digest Special Report', (May 1982), passim.

'International Outlook: Nigeria's Political Clout Slips as Oil Prices Fall, Business Week (No. 2738, 10 May 1982), p. 54.

'Nigerian Fourth National Development Plan: Advertisement', Financial Times 17 March 1981, p. 5.

Claude Ake , 'Off to a Good Start but Dangers Await...', West Africa (No. 3330, 25 May 1981 ), p. 1163.

S. Wright , op. cit, p. 1685.

Contrast, for instance, Robert D.A. Henderson , 'Nigeria: Future Nuclear Power?', Orbis (Vol. 25, No. 2, Summer 1981), pp. 409-423 with Terisa Turner , 'Multinational Corporations and the Instability of the Nigerian State ', Review of African Polical Economy (Vol. 5, January-April 1976), pp. 63-79.

For useful but different overviews of how rapid and uneven see International Labour Office. First Things First: Meeting the Basic Needs of the People of Nigeria ( Addia Ababa: Jobs and Skills Programme for Africa , 1981); and Henry Bienen and V.P. Diejomoah (cds.), The Political Economy of Income Distribution in Nigeria ( New York: Holmes and Meier , 1981 ).

For a suggestive comparison between the political economies of these two middle powers see Peter Evans , Dependent Development: the Alliance of Multi-national, State and Local Capital in Brazil (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1979), pp. 299-313.

Anthony Kirk-Greene and Douglas Rimmer , Nigeria Since 1970: A Political and Economic Outline (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1981), p. 46.

O. Ogunbadejo, op. cit., p. 765.

Sec, for instance, the widespread assumptions about i) the salience of domestic factors and ii) the limitations of external influence in, inter alia, A. Bolaji Akinyemi ,Foreign Policy and Federalism: the Nigerian Experience (Ibadan: Ibadan University Press , 1974); Gordon J. Idang , Nigeria: Internal Politics and Foreign Policy, 1960-1966 (Ibadan : Ibadan University Press, 1973 ); and Ibrahim A. Gambari , Party Politics and Foreign Policy: Nigeria Under the First Republic ( Zaria: Ahmadu Bello University Press, 1980).

For a critical introduction into this indigenous debate see Timothy M. Shaw and Orobola Fasehun , 'Nigeria in the World System: Alternative Approaches, Explanations and Projections', Journal of Modern African Studies (Vol. 8, No. 4, December 1980), pp. 551-573; cf. note 51 infra.

Perhaps the high point in such assertions was marked by A. Bolaji Akinyemi , (ed.), Nigeria and the World: Readings in Nigerian Foreign Policy (lbadan: Oxford University Press for Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, 1978).

S. Wright , op. cit, p. 1687.

See the still important, albeit early, piece on this by Douglas G. Anglin , 'Nigeria: Political Non-Alignment and Economic Alignment', Journal of Modern African Studies (Vol. 2, No. 2, July 1969), pp. 147-163. See also section e) below.

John S. Stremlau , 'The Fundamentals of Nigerian Foreign Policy', Issue (Vol. 11, Nos. 1 and 2, Spring and Summer 1981), pp. 49-50.

O. Ogunbadejo , op. cit, p. 751.

A. Young , op. cit, pp. 655-656.

S. Wright , op. cit, p. 1685.

A.S. Shagari , op. cit, p. 203.

For more on the content and context of these crises see Timothy M. Shaw , 'Nigeria in the International System', in I. William Zartman (ed.), The Political Economy of Nigeria (New York: Praeger, 1983 ), pp. 207--236.

A.S. Shagari , op, cit, p. 204.

Edet Inwang , 'Nigeria-Foreign Policy: Seeking the Break-Even Point', South (Vol. 16, February 1982), p. 58.

S. Wright , op. cit, p. 1685.

Ali A. Mazrui 'Nigeria and the United States: the Need for Civility, the Dangers of Intimacy', Orbis (Vol. 25, No. 4. Winter 1982 ), p. 859; Cf. the less cautious review of Aaron Segail 'Nigeria/United States: Uneasy Partners ', Africa Report (Vol. 27, No. 1. January-February 1982), pp. 11-16. See also note 34 below.

A. Young , op. cit, p. 656.

See Kal Hoisti , International Politics: A Framework for Analysis (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall , 1972), pp. 121-127.

Cf. A. Bolaji Akinyemi 'Mohammed/Obasanjo Foreign Policy; in Oyeleye Oyediran (ed.), Nigerian Government and Politics under Military Rule, 1966-1979 (London: Macmillan, 1979), pp. 150-168; and ' Nigerian-American Relations Re-Examined', in Oyeleye Oyediran (ed.), Survey of Nigerian Affairs, 1976- 77 ( London: Macmillan, 1981), pp. 105-114.

Olatunde J.B. Ojo , 'Nigeria and the Formation of ECOWAS', International Organization (Vol. 34, No. 4, Autumn 1980), p. 601.

S. Wright , op. cit, p. 1686.

Olajide Aluko , 'Necessity and Freedom in Nigerian Foreign Policy', Inaugural lecture, University of Ifc, 17 March 1981, pp. 31 and 33.

S. Wright , op. cit, p. 1685.

P. Evans , op. cit,, p. 299.

ibid. p. 309.

ibid p. 11.

ibid. p. 313. Cf. Timothy M. Shaw 'Inequalities and Interdependence in Africa and Latin America: Sub-Imperialism and Semi-Industrialisation in the Semi-Periphery', Cultures et Developement (Vol. 10, No. 2, 1978), pp. 231-263.

P. Evans , op. cit, p. 299.

International Labour Office , op. cit, pp. v, 4 and 5.

ibid., pp. 220 and 231; emphasis added.

O. Aluko , op. cit, p. 12. Cf. his more representative and realist collection of Essays in Nigerian Foreign Policy (London: George Allen and Unwin, 1981).

Sec T. Shaw and O. Fasehun, op. cit.

For further elucidation on this and other debates see Timothy M. Shaw and Olajide Aluko (eds.), Nigerian Foreign Policy: Alternative Perceptions and Projections (London: Macmillan , 1982). See also Orobola Pasehun and Timothy M. Shaw , 'Selected Bibliography on Nigerian Foreign Policy', in Ife International Relations Occasional Papers (Vol. 1, 1981 ), pp. 139-149.

See his 'Towards a New Philosophy of Foreign Policy for Nigeria ' in A.B. Akinyemi (ed.), op, cit, pp. 116--135.

See Shaw and Aluko (eds.), op. cit.

Segun Osoba , 'The Economic Foundations of Nigeria's Foreign Policy during the First Republic, 1960-1965', in I.A. Akinjogbin and S.O. Osoba (eds.), Topics on Nigerian Economic and Social History ( Ife: University of Ife Press, 1980 ), p. 209.

ibid p. 211. Cf. Timothy M. Shaw , 'Nigeria's Foreign Policy: the Debate about Diplomacy, Direction and Dependence', Journal of General Studies (Bayero University, Kano).

S. Osoba, op. cit. ; Cf. the similar position of Timothy M. Shaw 'Nigeria's Political Economy: Constitutions, Capitalism and Contradictions', ODI Review (2, 1980), pp. 76-85.

For an overview of its superior prospects compared with most others see Timothy M. Shaw (cd.), Alternative Futures for Africa (Boulder: Westview , 1982), especially pp. 105-110 and 186-191.

See, for example, James A. Caporaso , 'Industrialisation in the Periphery: the Evolving Global Division of Labour', International Studies Quarterly (vol. 25, No. 3, September 1981), pp. 347--384; and Raimo Vayrynen , 'Economic and Military Position of Regional Power Centres', Journal of Peace Research (Vol. 16, No. 4, 1979), pp. 349-369. 56. Goffredo Caccia. 'Nigeria: oil plot or oil glut?', Journad of African Marxists (Vol. 3, January 1983), p. 79.

Cf. ibid., p. 90.

See Sayre P. Schatz , 'The Nigerian Economy since the Great Oil-Price Increases of 1973-74', Africa Today (Vol. 29, No. 3, Third Quarter 1982), pp. 33-42.

ibid., p.42.

Immanuel Wallerstein , The Capitalist World Economy ( Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979), pp. 117-119.

For important revisionist and radical restatements see, respectively, Billy Dudley , An Introduction to Nigerian Government and Politics ( London : Macmillan, 1982); and Hans-Otto Sano The Political Economy of Food in Nigeria 1960-1982: A Discussion on Peasants, State and World Economy (Uppsala : Scandinavian Institute of African Studies, 1983. Research Report Number 65).