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On the road to the state's perdition? Authority and sovereignty in the Niger Delta, Nigeria

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 November 2006

Ruben Eberlein
Ruben Eberlein
Affiliation:
Institute of African Studies, University of Leipzig.
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Abstract

This article discusses the reorganisation and fragmentation of political rule in the Nigerian Niger Delta from the end of the 1990s until today. It details empirical evidence on the resources provided by transnational interventions, especially those connected to the changing security strategies of oil companies as well as intensified corporate social deployments, and on the appropriation of these resources by local actors. The continued drive from neopatrimonial to predatory rule, it is argued, has taken a decided twist towards localisation during recent years. Instead of constructing the crises in the Niger Delta as an example of ‘state failure’, the focus of this article is directed at the establishment of extra-state political formations, their legitimising discourses and social practices.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 44 , Issue 4 , December 2006 , pp. 573 - 596
Copyright
© 2006 Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

The author acknowledges the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) for funding, and thanks for the critical intellectual support provided by interview partners and colleagues, especially Dr Ulf Engel (University of Leipzig), Uzo Nduka (consultant, Port Harcourt) and Anna Zalik (PhD, University of California, Berkeley).