AN ANALYSIS OF THE OBASANJO’S ADMINISTRATION IN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMACY
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 The Study’s Historical Context
A country’s foreign policy is made up of self-interest strategies chosen by the state to protect its national interests and achieve its goals within the context of international relations. It is the sum of a country’s national interests as perceived by foreign policy decision makers as a result of the interaction of internal and external forces. Approaches are used strategically to interact with other countries.
However, due to the increasing level of globalization and transnational activities, relations and interactions between state and non-state actors in the international political arena have been known to exist in recent times. These relationships have influenced several foreign policies between nation states in their own way.
Since independence, Nigeria’s foreign policy has been viewed from various perspectives (Aluko, 1981; Macridis (1985:xiii),Anyaele, 2005). One of the most prevalent views of her foreign policy is that “it is chameleon in nature” (Anyaele, 2005), that is, a foreign policy that is constantly in flux as a result of internal and external dynamics inherent in any given administration or regime.
Some writers, however, maintained that, despite the frequent changes, the substance of Nigeria’s foreign policy has remained consistent. However, the following sections of this study will argue otherwise. To support the preceding point, (Anyaele, 2005:2) maintains that “the protection of our national interests has remained the permanent focus of Nigeria’s foreign policy, but the strategies for such protection have varied from one regime / government to the next.”
Since independence, Nigeria’s foreign policy has been developed and implemented by fourteen different administrations through the external affairs ministry. From Tafawa Balewa’s administration in 1960 to President Obasanjo’s administration in 2003; from President Musa Yar’Adua’s administration to President Goodluck Jonathan’s current administration.
These various administrations – including the various military regimes that took over administrative power in Nigeria for a total of 35 years, out of the entire 53 years of Nigeria’s foreign policy existence – claimed to pursue the same national interest in terms of the nation’s foreign policy.
As a result of Nigeria’s fluid foreign policy, there has been a slew of conceptual and ideological shifts in the country’s foreign policy machinery (Pine, 2011). Studies (Aluko, 1981); (Vision 2020 Report, 2009); (Pine, 2011); and (Akinboye, 2013) show that previous administrations strived for an epistemological construction and definition of Nigeria’s foreign policy thrust.
These conceptualizations are frequently regime specific and born out of various administrations’ or regimes’ psychological and selfish desire to carve an identity that will leave a lasting impression in the minds of Nigerians. To that end, (Pin, 2011) laments, “…these ideologies are not always the result of deep and profound philosophical reflections.”
This paper will argue that these ideologies are more like collections of selfish efforts by these various administrations to establish a name or identity for themselves and their regime or administration, as the case may be. (Pin, 2011:1) believes that this factor was a major causative avenue / agency of project abandonment and foreign policy failure in Nigeria. Concepts and ideologies that have been proposed over the years since independence include:
Africa as the center piece of Nigeria’s foreign policy, Dynamic foreign policy, National consensus in foreign policy, Economic diplomacy, Citizen Diplomacy, and The transformation agenda of Nigeria’s foreign policy, to name a few examples.
Using traditional critical and rationalist methods of analysis in philosophy, the study will review and provide conceptual clarifications of relevant literature, arguments, texts, library and archival materials in the areas of the study’s subject matter, with the goal of evaluating these conceptual mutations in Nigeria’s foreign policy engineering.
The study will also demonstrate how such misguided policies result in operationally barren and philosophically ambiguous policies that, when implemented, result in even more conceptual confusion and groping in the dark.
Do You Have New or Fresh Topic? Send Us Your Topic
AN ANALYSIS OF THE OBASANJO’S ADMINISTRATION IN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMACY
INSTRUCTIONS AFTER PAYMENT
- 1.Your Full name
- 2. Your Active Email Address
- 3. Your Phone Number
- 4. Amount Paid
- 5. Project Topic
- 6. Location you made payment from