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Between a Regional Hegemon and a Middle Power: The Case of Nigeria

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Awkward Powers: Escaping Traditional Great and Middle Power Theory

Part of the book series: Global Political Transitions ((GLPOTR))

Abstract

Does Nigeria conform with the mainstays of established hierarchy in a global superstructure? If not, is the concept of ‘awkward powers’ useful to understand Nigeria’s role in the international system? This chapter aims to provide an empirical analysis of the concept of awkward powers presented in Chapter I, through the case of Nigeria. The dynamics of a rising Nigeria and the nature of its ascent require both a theoretical approach and regional knowledge to understand the stability implication in the African continent, as well as other regions that are facing emerging powers. This chapter reviews four definitional criteria—positional, normative/behavioural, identity, and systemic impact—and concludes that the case of Nigeria showcases the conceptual utility of the awkward middle power concept, specifically in the study of contemporary states which sit between regional hegemony and middle powerdom.

The author wishes to thank the editors for their assistance in revising this chapter. An earlier version of this research was presented at the 2019 Australian Political Science Association conference, for the panel titled “Escaping IR Theory? The Case for Awkward Powers”.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Gabriele Abbondanza and Thomas Wilkins, “The Case for Awkward Powers,” in Awkward Powers: Escaping Traditional Great and Middle Power Theory, eds. Gabriele Abbondanza and Thomas Wilkins (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2021), 3–39.

  2. 2.

    World Bank, “World Bank Open Data,” 2019.

  3. 3.

    Adekeye Adebajo, “In Search of Warlords: Hegemonic Peacekeeping in Liberia and Somalia,” International Peacekeeping 10, no. 4 (2003).

  4. 4.

    Oluwaseun Tella, “Internal, Regional and External Impediments to Nigeria and South Africa’s Hegemonic Competence in Africa,” in Nigeria-South Africa Relations and Regional Hegemonic Competence, ed. Oluwaseun Tella (Springer, 2018); Olusola Ogunnubi and Ufo Okeke-Uzodike, “Can Nigeria Be Africa’s Hegemon?,” African Security Review 25, no. 2 (2016).

  5. 5.

    Faruq Idowu Boge, “Old Allies and New Friends in Nigeria’s External Relations,” Covenant University Journal of Politics & International Affair 5, no. 2 (2017); Nduba Echezona, Contemporary Issues in World Order (Mekslink Publishers, 1992); Femi Aribisala, “Bolaji Akinyemi’s Concert of Medium Powers,” Financial Nigeria, January 2, 2013.

  6. 6.

    Andrew Fenton Cooper, Niche Diplomacy: Middle Powers After the Cold War (New York: Macmillan, 1997), 14.

  7. 7.

    Andrew Fenton Cooper, Richard Higgott, and Kim Richard Nossal, Relocating Middle Powers: Australia and Canada in a Changing World Order (Melbourne University Press, 1993); Carl Ungerer, “The ‘Middle Power’ Concept in Australian Foreign Policy,” Australian Journal of Politics and History 53, no. 4 (2007); Andrew Carr, “Is Australia a Middle Power? A Systemic Impact Approach,” Australian Journal of International Affairs 68, no. 1 (2014); Sangbae Kim, “Middle Power’s Diplomatic Strategies in the Perspective of Networks: Applying Theories of Structural Holes and Positional Power,” Kukje Jeongchi Nonchong 51, no. 3 (2011).

  8. 8.

    Thomas Wilkins, “Defining Middle Powers Through IR Theory: Three Images,” in Rethinking Middle Powers in the Asian Century: New Theories, New Cases, eds. Tanguy Struye de Swielande, Dorothée Vandamme, and David Walton (Routledge, 2018), 50.

  9. 9.

    Carr, “Is Australia a Middle Power? A Systemic Impact Approach,” 72.

  10. 10.

    World Bank, “World Bank Open Data.”

  11. 11.

    Economic Community of West African States [ECOWAS], “Trade,” accessed April 20, 2020, https://www.ecowas.int/ecowas-sectors/trade/.

  12. 12.

    Yolanda Spies, “The Equivocal Power of South Africa,” in Awkward Powers: Escaping Traditional Great and Middle Power Theory, eds. Gabriele Abbondanza and Thomas Wilkins (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2021), 199–219.

  13. 13.

    World Bank, “World Bank Open Data.”

  14. 14.

    Tella, “Internal, Regional and External Impediments,” 4.

  15. 15.

    Federal Republic of Nigeria, National Security Strategy (Abuja: Federal Republic of Nigeria, December 2019), 4, 6.

  16. 16.

    Cooper, Higgott, and Nossal, Relocating Middle Powers, 17.

  17. 17.

    World Bank, “World Bank Open Data.”

  18. 18.

    ECOWAS, “ECOWAS Moves for Continuous Support from Nigeria,” May 27, 2016, https://www.ecowas.int/ecowas-moves-for-continuous-support-from-nigeria/.

  19. 19.

    International Institute for Strategic Studies Defence and Military Analysis Programme [IISS Programme], “Military Balance + (Online),” accessed July 1, 2020.

  20. 20.

    IISS Programme, “Military balance + (Online)”.

  21. 21.

    Adebajo, “In Search of Warlords.”

  22. 22.

    Tella, “Internal, Regional and External Impediments,” 13.

  23. 23.

    Belachew Gebrewold, “Legitimate Regional Powers? A Failed Test for Ethiopia, Nigeria, and South Africa,” African Security 7, no. 1 (2014).

  24. 24.

    Federal Republic of Nigeria, National Security Strategy (Abuja: Federal Republic of Nigeria, December 2019), 4, 6.

  25. 25.

    Transparency International, Corruption Perceptions Index 2018 (Berlin: Transparency International, 2018). www.transparency.org/cpi2018.

  26. 26.

    Wilkins, “Defining Middle Powers Through IR Theory: Three Images,” 53.

  27. 27.

    Olusola Ogunnubi, Hakeem Onapajo, and Christopher Isike, “A Failing Regional Power? Nigeria’s International Status in the Age of Boko Haram,” Politikon: South African Journal of Political Studies 44, no. 3 (2017); Jacob Zenn, Unmasking Boko Haram: Exploring Global Jihad in Nigeria (Lynne Rienner, 2020); Adeoye O. Akinola, Olumuyiwa Temitope Faluyi, and Sultan Khan, eds., Boko Haram Terrorism and the Nigerian State: Politics and Policies (Springer, 2019); Edlyne Anugwom, The Boko Haram Insurgence in Nigeria: Perspectives from Within (Springer, 2018); Jideofor Adibe, Nigeria Without Nigerians?: Boko Haram and the Crisis in Nigeria’s Nation-Building (Adonis & Abbey, 2012); Ogunnubi, Onapajo, and Isike, “A Failing Regional Power?”

  28. 28.

    World Bank, “Poverty & Equity Data Portal—Nigeria,” 2020, http://povertydata.worldbank.org/poverty/country/NGA.

  29. 29.

    ECOWAS, “Basic Information,” accessed April 25, 2020, https://www.ecowas.int/.

  30. 30.

    ECOWAS, 2016 Annual Report “ECOWAS Common External Tariff (CET): Achievements, Challenges and Prospects”; ECOWAS, “Basic information.”

  31. 31.

    Ogunnubi and Okeke-Uzodike, “Can Nigeria Be Africa’s Hegemon?,” 115.

  32. 32.

    Jinmi Adisa, “Nigeria in ECOMOG: Political Undercurrents and the Burden of Community Spirit,” Small Wars & Insurgencies 5, no. 1 (1994); Ogunnubi and Okeke-Uzodike, “Can Nigeria Be Africa’s Hegemon?,” 120.

  33. 33.

    Kunle Amuwo, “Nigeria’s Continental Diplomatic Thrusts: The Limits of Africa’s Nominally Biggest Economy,” Policy Briefing of South African Institute of International Affairs, October 1, 2014.

  34. 34.

    Adebajo, “In Search of Warlords,” 65.

  35. 35.

    Ogunnubi and Okeke-Uzodike, “Can Nigeria Be Africa’s Hegemon?,” 118.

  36. 36.

    Thomas Wilkins and Lucas Rezende, “A Liminal and Transitional Awkward Power: Brazil Betwixt the Great and Middle Powers,” in Awkward Powers: Escaping Traditional Great and Middle Power Theory, eds. Gabriele Abbondanza and Thomas Wilkins (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2021), 95–128.

  37. 37.

    Ogunnubi and Okeke-Uzodike, “Can Nigeria Be Africa’s Hegemon?,” 118.

  38. 38.

    UN News, “Service and Sacrifice: Honouring Nigeria’s Contribution to UN Peacekeeping,” UN News, February 16, 2018, https://news.un.org/en/story/2018/02/1002901.

  39. 39.

    Cooper, Niche Diplomacy, 15.

  40. 40.

    Ibid.

  41. 41.

    Friday Aworawo, “Nigeria and ECOWAS Since 1999: Continuity and Change in Multilateralism and Conflict Resolution,” Ihafa: A Journal of African Studies 8, no. 2 (2016).

  42. 42.

    Tella, “Internal, Regional and External Impediments.”

  43. 43.

    Ogunnubi and Okeke-Uzodike, “Can Nigeria Be Africa’s Hegemon?”

  44. 44.

    Boge, “Old Allies and New Friends in Nigeria’s External Relations.”; Echezona, Contemporary Issues in World Order.

  45. 45.

    Echezona, Contemporary Issues in World Order, 17; Aribisala, “Bolaji Akinyemi’s Concert of Medium Powers.”

  46. 46.

    Bolaji Akinyemi, “Nigeria’s Position: Abacha’s Ambitions,” International Herald Tribune, June 10, 1997.

  47. 47.

    Aribisala, “Bolaji Akinyemi’s Concert of Medium Powers.”

  48. 48.

    Echezona, Contemporary Issues in World Order, 19.

  49. 49.

    Aribisala, “Bolaji Akinyemi’s Concert of Medium Powers.”

  50. 50.

    Olu Sanu quoted in Karl Magyar and Earl Conteh-Morgan, eds., Peacekeeping in Africa: ECOMOG in Liberia (St. Martin’s Press, 1998), 112.

  51. 51.

    Adekeye Adebajo, “Hegemony on a Shoestring: Nigeria’s Post-Cold War Foreign Policy,” in Gulliver’s Troubles: Nigeria’s Foreign Policy After the Cold War, eds. Adekeye Adebajo and Abdul Raufu Mustapha (University of Kwazulu-Natal, 2008); Chris Alden and Garth Le Pere, “South Africa in Africa: Bound To Lead?,” Politikon 36, no. 1 (2009); Tella, “Internal, Regional and External Impediments.”

  52. 52.

    Tella, “Internal, Regional and External Impediments,” 4.

  53. 53.

    ECOWAS, “ECOWAS Moves for Continuous Support from Nigeria.”

  54. 54.

    Tella, “Internal, Regional and External Impediments,” 6.

  55. 55.

    Tella, “Internal, Regional and External Impediments,” 6–7; Oluwaseun Tella, “Attractions and Limitations of Nigeria’s Soft Power,” Journal of Global Analysis 7, no. 2 (2017).

  56. 56.

    Adebajo, “In Search of Warlords,” 67.

  57. 57.

    “Africa Debate: Is Nigeria Ready to Lead the Continent?,” BBC, June 23, 2014, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-27885700.

  58. 58.

    John Adams and Joseph Ebegbulem, “Nigeria’s National Interest and Interventions in West African Conflicts: A Critical Analysis,” African Journal of Politics and Administrative Studies 9, no. 1 (2016): 70–84.

  59. 59.

    Carr, “Is Australia a Middle Power? A Systemic Impact Approach,” 71.

  60. 60.

    Joanne Wallis and Andrew Carr, Asia-Pacific Security: An Introduction (Georgetown University Press, 2016), 276; Carr, “Is Australia a Middle Power? A Systemic Impact Approach,” 79.

  61. 61.

    Thomas Wilkins, “Australia and Middle Power Approaches to Asia Pacific Regionalism,” Australian Journal of Political Science 52, no. 1 (2017): 114; Carsten Holbraad, Middle Powers in International Politics (Macmillan, 1984).

  62. 62.

    Holbraad, Middle Powers in International Politics.

  63. 63.

    Federal Republic of Nigeria, National Security Strategy, 55–56.

  64. 64.

    Ibid., 57.

  65. 65.

    Tella, “Internal, Regional and External Impediments”.

  66. 66.

    Reuters, “Snapshot of Issues Surrounding Clinton’s Nigeria Visit,” Reuters, August 25, 2000.

  67. 67.

    Dapo Thomas, “History and Evolution of Nigeria-US Military, Security, and Political Relations,” International Relations and Diplomacy 6, no. 4 (2018): 214.

  68. 68.

    Thomas, “History and Evolution of Nigeria-US Military, Security, and Political Relations.”

  69. 69.

    Kimairis Toogood, Understanding the Emerging Relationship Between China and Africa: The Case of Nigeria, Policy Brief Series (George Mason University; Stimson Center, 2016).

  70. 70.

    Toogood, Understanding the Emerging Relationship Between China and Africa: The Case of Nigeria, 1.

  71. 71.

    Pieter D. Wezeman et al., “Trends in International Arms Transfers, 2018,” SIPRI Fact Sheet (March 2019): 8.

  72. 72.

    Tella, “Internal, Regional and External Impediments,” 16; Tella, “AFRICOM: Hard or Soft Power Initiative?,” African Security Review 25, no. 4 (2016).

  73. 73.

    Tella, “Internal, Regional and External Impediments,” 16.

  74. 74.

    Eghosa E. Osaghae, Crippled Giant: Nigeria Since Independence (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1998); Adekeye Adebajo and Abdul Raufu Mustapha, Gulliver’s Troubles: Nigeria’s Foreign Policy after the Cold War (Scottsville, South Africa: University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, 2008); Tella, “Internal, Regional and External Impediments,” 8.

  75. 75.

    Detlef Nolte, “How to Compare Regional Powers: Analytical Concepts and Research Topics,” Review of International Studies 36, no. 4 (2010).

  76. 76.

    Adebajo, “In Search of Warlords,” 63.

  77. 77.

    Tella, “Internal, Regional and External Impediments”; Adebajo, “Hegemony on a Shoestring: Nigeria’s Post-Cold War Foreign Policy”; Adebajo, “In Search of Warlords.”

  78. 78.

    Ogunnubi and Okeke-Uzodike, “Can Nigeria Be Africa’s Hegemon?,” 119.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Jiye Kim

  2. Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Jiye Kim

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  1. Department of Government and International Relations, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Gabriele Abbondanza

  2. Department of Government and International Relations, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Thomas Stow Wilkins

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Kim, J. (2022). Between a Regional Hegemon and a Middle Power: The Case of Nigeria. In: Abbondanza, G., Wilkins, T.S. (eds) Awkward Powers: Escaping Traditional Great and Middle Power Theory. Global Political Transitions. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-0370-9_9

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