The internationalisation of an internal resistance ethnic minority conflicts and the politics of exclusion in the Niger Delta.

Abstract

While a lot of ink has been spilled and numerous papers devoted to the variegated causes of the Niger Delta conflict, what has been conspicuously moot in the literature is their integration into a sufficient explanatory system to facilitate the intelligibility of empirical data and support effective policy intervention. Also, while writers have investigated the internal dimensions of the conflict, little systematic attention has been paid to its international dimensions. The study proposes to fill these gaps in existing literature through a two-level analysis of the Niger Delta Conflict: (1) internal (2) international. The internal level is anchored on a four-dimensional explanation which argues that political and economic factors are the root causes of the Niger Delta conflict, with environmental and social-security factors as the proximate causes. At the international level, the study probes the role of the international community in the moderation of the Niger Delta conflict and concludes with an appraisal of the extent to which the internationalisation of the conflict engendered both attitudinal and policy shifts on the parts of key players. Problematising the usefulness of majoritarian democracy for resource starved plural societies, the study canvasses, inter alia, the implementation of consociational mechanisms in the Nigerian political process as a more effective way of mitigating the seething cauldron of conflicts in the Niger Delta, and promoting inter-ethnic equity and amity in Nigeria as a whole.