Review: Transition without End
| Published date | 01 March 1999 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070209905400117 |
| Date | 01 March 1999 |
| Subject Matter | Review |
Reviews
AFRICA
Reviews
by
John
Flint
Dalhousie
University
CRIPPLED
GIANT
Nigeria
since
independence
Egosa
E.
Osaghae
Bloomington
and
Indianapolis:
Indiana
University
Press,
1998,
xxvi,
342
pp,
US$39.95
cloth,
US$18.95
paper
T
he
complex
story
of
Nigeria's
history
since
decolonization
in
1960
is
outlined
with
considerable
depth
and
sophistication
in
Crippled
Giant.
The
author,
a
Nigerian
scholar
who
taught
at
Ibadan
University
before
taking
up
his
present
position
as
Professor
and
Head
of
Political
Studies
at
South
Africa's
University
of
the
Transkei, has
written
what
is
perhaps
the
best,
and
maybe
the
least
optimistic,
account
of
the
failure
of
this
great
and potentially
rich
country
from
1960
until
1996.
The
approach
is
historical,
following
a
clear
chrono-
logical
pattern, and
wide
ranging
in
its
treatment
of
economic,
social,
ethnic,
and
regional rivalry,
and military
and
civilian
dlites.
Foreign
policy,
and
its
links
with
internal
politics,
is
discussed
in
the
context
of
each
of
the
regimes.
His
overall
thesis
is
that
Nigeria's
decline
was
not
something
which
began in
the
1980s
but
is implicit
in
the
structure
of
the
post-colonial
state
and
the
economy.
TRANSITION
WITHOUT
END
Nigerian
politics
and
civil
society
under
Babangida
Edited
by Larry
Diamond, Anthony
Kirk-Greene,
and
Oyelele
Oyedi-
ran
Boulder
CO
and
London:
Lynne
Rienner,
1997,
xii,
515pp,
US$57.00
This
detailed
and
valuable
study
consists
of
21
essays,
most
of
them
by
Nigerian authors,
which
analyze
in
depth
the
regime
of
General
Ibrahim
Babangida
from
1985 to
1993,
a
regime
of
'endless
transition'
186
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
Winter
1998-9
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