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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | The National Question in Africa: Internal Imperatives |
Author: | Soyinka, Wole |
Year: | 1996 |
Periodical: | Development and Change |
Volume: | 27 |
Issue: | 2 |
Period: | April |
Pages: | 279-300 |
Language: | English |
Geographic terms: | Africa Nigeria |
Subjects: | dictatorship democracy political repression Politics and Government Ethnic and Race Relations |
External link: | https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7660.1996.tb00590.x |
Abstract: | In a plea for political reform in Africa, this essay questions whether the concept of 'nation-being' is really applicable to territories ruled by dictatorial regimes. Without democracy, many African 'nations' are little more than a gambling space for the opportunism and adventurism of power. Furthermore, as in the concrete case of Nigeria, repression strengthens ethnic identity and encourages separatism. The risks of virulent ethnic conflict in Africa - and elsewhere - might be lessened if regional conferences were called to debate the national question openly, and to redefine (where necessary) both the external boundaries and the internal political realities of conflict-ridden societies. Sum. |