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Institutionalizing Instability: The Constitutional Roots of Insecurity in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic
Open accessAbstract
Nigeria’s return to democracy has been a tumultuous era; the Fourth Republic has been characterized by insurgencies and violence throughout the country. Though seemingly disparate movements, the violence of the Fourth Republic has its roots in the country’s constitution. Three aspects of the 1999 Nigerian constitution stand out as particularly problematic: the centralization of the police at the federal level with limited sub-national oversight, the ambiguous concept of indigeneity, and the overlapping, often contradictory land tenure systems endorsed. All of these allude to the precariousness of Nigerian federalism under the current constitution; ultimately, the police centralization primes the country for violence, while the indigeneity rules and land tenure system make it more difficult to negotiate stable post-conflict settlements. The country’s recent experience with Boko Haram will be used to illustrate how these constitutional tenets facilitate instability.
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“The lack of clear land tenure system victimizes women which further hinders the process of restitution following conflict [112].”
From Theories of Land Reform and Their Impact on Land Reform Success in Southern Africa (2019) · cites this paper as [112]
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“Land tenure in the northeast fosters uncertainty, allows discrimination and impedes economic development [112].”
From Theories of Land Reform and Their Impact on Land Reform Success in Southern Africa (2019) · cites this paper as [112]
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Research works printed but not linked: 32
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
Theories of Land Reform and Their Impact on Land Reform Success in Southern Africa
Hull, S., Babalola, K., & Whittal, J. (2019) · Land · doi:10.3390/land8110172 · Cited by 57
“Land tenure in the northeast fosters uncertainty, allows discrimination and impedes economic development [112].”
Background
Metadata
- Authors
- Matfess, H.
- Affiliations
- Johns Hopkins University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Matfess, Hilary
- ORCID
- Matfess, Hilary
- Venue
- Stability: International Journal of Security and Development
- Published
- 2016-09-30
- Volume
- 5
- Issue
- 1
- ISSN
- 2165-2627 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2527213012
- Cited by
- 10
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2024: 2 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 1
- FWCI
- 4.77
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Stability International Journal of Security and Development (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Stability (Centre for Security Governance) (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Political Conflict and Governance
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Political Systems and Governance
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Diverse Research Studies Overview
- Keywords
- Nigerian Fourth Republic, 1999 Nigerian Constitution, constitutional design, insurgency, political violence, federalism, police centralization, indigeneity, land tenure systems, Boko Haram, post-conflict settlement, Nigeria
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