African nations have watched the recent civic dramas of the Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street asking if they too will see similar civil society actions in their own countries. Nigeria—Africa’s most populous nation—has long enjoyed one of the continent’s most vibrant civil society spheres, which has been instrumental in political change. Initially viewed as contributing to democracy’s development, however, civil society groups have come under increased scrutiny by scholars and policymakers. Do some civil society groups promote democracy more effectively than others? And if so, which ones, and why? By examining the structure, organizational cultures, and methods of more than one hundred Nigerian civil society groups, Kew finds that the groups that best promote democratic development externally are themselves internally democratic. Specifically, the internally democratic civil society groups build more sustainable coalitions to resist authoritarian rule; support and influence political parties more effectively; articulate and promote public interests in a more negotiable fashion; and, most importantly, inculcate democratic norms in their members, which in turn has important democratizing impacts on national political cultures and institutions. Further, internally democratic groups are better able to resolve ethnic differences and ethnic-based tensions than their undemocratically structured peers. This book is a deeply comprehensive account of Nigerian civil society groups in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Kew blends democratic theory with conflict resolution methodologies to argue that the manner in which groups—and states—manage internal conflicts provides an important gauge as to how democratic their political cultures are. The conclusions will allow donors and policymakers to make strategic decisions in their efforts to build a democratic society in Nigeria and other regions.

In Conflict Management in Nigeria: Issues and Challenges, Dr. Oshita O. Oshita, one of the leading peace researchers in Nigeria, interrogates a number of cross-cutting issues and challenges that may be encountered in the process of engaging with conflict mitigation in Nigeria. He explores the complex issues involved just as he analyses the challenges arising from the political economy of conflict management in Nigeria from historical and contemporary perspectives.

Conflict Management and Resolution provides students with an overview of the main theories of conflict management and conflict resolution, and will equip them to respond to the complex phenomena of international conflict. The book covers these four key concepts in detail: negotiation mediation facilitation reconciliation. It examines how to prevent, manage and eventually resolve various types of conflict that originate from inter-state and inter-group competition, and expands the existing scope of conflict management and resolution theories by examining emerging theories on the identity, power and structural dimensions of adversarial relationships. The volume is designed to enhance our understanding of effective response strategies to conflict in multiple social settings as well as violent struggles, and utilizes numerous case studies, both past and current. These include the Iranian and North Korean nuclear weapons programmes, the war in Lebanon, the Arab-Israeli conflict, civil wars in Africa, and ethnic conflicts in Europe and Asia. This book will be essential reading for all students of conflict management and resolution, mediation, peacekeeping, peace and conflict studies and International Relations in general. Ho-Won Jeong is Professor of Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George Mason University, USA. He has published nine books in the field of international relations, peace and conflict studies. He is also a senior editor of the International Journal of Peace Studies.

Elections have emerged as one of the most important, and most contentious, features of political life on the African continent. In the first half of this decade, there were more than 20 national elections, serving largely as capstones of peace processes or transitions to democracies. The outcomes of these and more recent elections have been remarkably varied, and the relationship between elections and conflict management is widely debated throughout Africa and among international observers. Elections can either help reduce tensions by reconstituting legitimate government, or they can exacerbate them by further polarizing highly conflictual societies. This timely volume examines the relationship between elections, especially electoral systems, and conflict management in Africa, while also serving as an important reference for other regions. The book brings together for the first time the latest thinking on the many different roles elections can play in democratization and conflict management.

This is a study of the informal channels of conflict resolution among people living in Ibadan. Although the informal channels of justice are generally preferred by the poor because they cannot afford to hire an attorney, this study has shown that informal channels are often the first choice of citizens who wish to solve their conflicts outside a court of law.