This collection of inaugural and ascension speeches facilitates comparison of presidential themes, leadership styles, personal philosophies, and evolutionary communication strategies in Nigerian nation building. Each chapter opens with biographical notes on the speaker, followed by an introduction to the prevalent political climate; each chapter ends with the leader's unabridged speech.

Swaziland—recently renamed Eswatini—is the only nation-state in Africa with a functioning indigenous political system. Elsewhere on the continent, most departing colonial administrators were succeeded by Western-educated elites. In Swaziland, traditional Swazi leaders managed to establish an absolute monarchy instead, qualified by the author as benevolent and people-centred, a system which they have successfully defended from competing political forces since the 1970s. This book is the first to study the constitutional history of this monarchy. It examines its origins in the colonial era, the financial support it received from white settlers and apartheid South Africa, and the challenges it faced from political parties and the judiciary, before King Sobhuza II finally consolidated power in 1978 with an auto-coup d’état. As Hlengiwe Dlamini shows, the history of constitution-making in Swaziland is rich, complex, and full of overlooked insight for historians of Africa.

The Latin adage “Si vis pacem, para bellum” (if you want peace, prepare for war) is usually interpreted as ‘peace through strength.’ It expresses the idea that being armed and ready to fight in order to defend oneself is a viable way of keeping the peace. However, the truism of the adage is expressed by the author who argues for peace and sustainable development of Africa at large in the light of the Nigerian/Biafra struggle. He intellectually equips readers with memories of the past lest the mistakes of history be repeated. The author uses the power of the pen as a weapon mightier than the sword, to discuss the structures of peace in the African context. He weighs in a balance, the need for restructuring and the right for self-determination; the way to freedom and collective effort towards development. This volume contains articles that propose potential and functional solutions to the perennial challenges presently facing Nigeria as a country. Interestingly, the reflections recommend steps towards cordial reconciliation and the liberating spirit that would catalyze the restoration of an emerging nation (the Republic of Biafra). The volume further expands the ongoing ideas and thoughts on a variety of issues that offer roadmaps to the contextual problems of the indigenous people as well as the Christian Mission and evangelical witness. Furthermore, the author goes on to demonstrate that when dialogue is employed, peace makes its way in the hearts of the citizens, which ushers in the flourishing of good governance and economic growth. Hence, justice, equity, peace, equal rights and opportunity become the bedrock upon which every nation-state is supposed to be founded.

Nigeria is famous for "419" e-mails asking recipients for bank account information and for scandals involving the disappearance of billions of dollars from government coffers. Corruption permeates even minor official interactions, from traffic control to university admissions. In Moral Economies of Corruption Steven Pierce provides a cultural history of the last 150 years of corruption in Nigeria as a case study for considering how corruption plays an important role in the processes of political change in all states. He suggests that corruption is best understood in Nigeria, as well as in all other nations, as a culturally contingent set of political discourses and historically embedded practices. The best solution to combatting Nigerian government corruption, Pierce contends, is not through attempts to prevent officials from diverting public revenue to self-interested ends, but to ask how public ends can be served by accommodating Nigeria's history of patronage as a fundamental political principle.

The essays in this volume capture the exciting energy of the emergent novel in East and West Africa, drawing on diffe¬rent theoretical insights to offer fresh and engaging perspectives on what has been variously termed the ‘new wave’, ‘emer¬gent generation’, and ‘third generation’. Subjects addressed include the politics of identity, especially when (re)constructed outside the homeland or when African indigenous values are eroded by globaliz¬ation, transnationalism, and the exilic condition or the self undergoes fragmen¬tation. Other essays examine once-taboo concerns, including gendered accounts of same-sex sexualities. Most of the essays deal with shifting perceptions by African women of their social condition in patriarchy in relation to such issues as polygamy, adultery, male domination, and the woman’s quest for fulfilment and respect through access to quality education and full economic and socio-political participation. Themes taken up by other novels examined in¬clude the sexual exploitation of women and criminality generally and the ex¬posure of children to violence. Likewise examined is the contemporary textual¬izing of orality (the trickster figure). Writers discussed include Chima¬manda Ngozi Adichie, Okey Ndibe, Helon Habila, Ike Oguine, Chris Abani, Tanure Ojaide, Maik Nwosu, Unoma Azuah, Jude Dibia, Lola Shoneyin, Mary Karooro Okurut, Violet Barungi, Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani, Abidemi Sanusi, Akachi Ezeigbo, Sefi Atta, Kaine Agary, Kojo Laing, Ahmadou Kourouma, Uwen Akpan, and Alobwed’Epie Ogaga Okuyade teaches popular/folk culture, African literature and culture, African American and African diasporic studies, and the English novel in the Department of English and Literary Studies, Niger Delta University, Wilberforce Island, Nigeria. He has guest-edited special issues of ARIEL and Imbizo, and is the editor of Eco-Critical Literature: Regreening African Landscapes (2013).

This volume introduces undergraduates to a collection of primary documents on apartheid in South Africa, one of the best known and frequently cited systems of institutionalized and legalized racial and ethnic segregation. David Gordon's introduction provides context essential to understanding the emergence, development, and fall of apartheid, and highlights historiographic debates regarding apartheid, resistance to apartheid, and life under apartheid. Through a collection of sources that include key government documents, Afrikaner nationalist tracts and speeches, and records of meetings, students can explore apartheid's basis, its social and economic impacts, life under apartheid, and forms of resistance to it. Document headnotes, maps, a Chronology of Apartheid in South Africa, Questions for Consideration, and a Selected Bibliography serve to further support student learning.

Does leadership affect economic growth and development? Is leadership an exogenous determinant or an endogenous outcome of growth and development processes? Can we differentiate between the two? Do leaders decisions and actions vary in importance over various stages in the process, at least in successful cases? How important is choosing the right economic model? To what extent does leadership affect the explicit or implicit time horizons of policy choices? Is leadership an important determinant of inclusiveness in growth? In what ways do leaders build consensus or institutions to allow time for the economic plan to work? What challenges does economic success generate? How do successful leaders adapt to new problems such as income inequality and a rising middle class? Does the creation of new institutions play any role in solving these problems? Why do leaders often choose second best political economic compromises in economic development? This book has been prepared for the Commission on Growth and Development to evaluate the state of knowledge on the relationship between leadership and economic growth. It does not pretend to provide all the answers, but does review the evidence, identify insights and offers examples of leaders making decisions and acting in ways that enhance economic growth. It examines a variety of topics including leaders roles in: promoting national unity, building good solid institutions, choosing innovative and localized policies, and creating political consensus for long run policy implementation. Written by prominent academics and actual policy makers, Leadership and Growth seeks to create a better understanding of the role of leadership in growth and to encourage further studies of the role of leadership in economic growth.