Papers by Stephen O Idahosa, Ph.D
Domino Theory for the Promulgation of Instability in the Sahel Region: Post Gadhafi Era in Perspective
Revista Inclusiones, Dec 9, 2019

In Quest of African IR Theories: Panafricanism and National Ideologies, Critical Theories or Postcolonial Studies?
Advances in African economic, social and political development, 2021
Using the results of the 2017–2018 survey of international scholars from nine countries of Sub-Sa... more Using the results of the 2017–2018 survey of international scholars from nine countries of Sub-Saharan Africa, Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia draws preliminary conclusions about the dominant theoretical approaches in the African international studies academic community. The authors further elaborate on the prospects for conceptualizing African approaches to international relations through the prism of each of the theories outlined. Particular attention is paid to critical theories, especially neo-Marxism in its various interpretations. A special focus is placed on the growing intellectual competition between Western critical thought and critical directions that are widespread in Russia and China. A particular difference in this regard lies in the perception of China’s role in Africa. The authors also question the non-Western nature of postcolonial theories and address the difficult dilemma faced by African international studies scholars—to leave their home country for leading Western universities and receive modern education in international relations, partially breaking away from their roots, or to remain patriotic to their country but stay excluded from international academic discourse. Finally, the article examines the issue of reparations for years of slavery as one of the radical ideological foundations of African IR studies.

A number of studies have reviewed the Nigerian Government and military strategy and quest to defe... more A number of studies have reviewed the Nigerian Government and military strategy and quest to defeat the dreaded islamist militant known as Boko Haram vis-à-vis the claims of Boko Haram defeat and the seeming inability to contain the threats posed by members of the sect. Drawing references from scholarly articles, electronic channels, and other commissioned reports, the paper explains why despite the rise in security budget from about US$1.44 billion in 2009 to US2.81 billion in 2018, military-led counterinsurgency operation in Nigeria still faces some notable challenges. The paper further examines why Nigeria appears to be losing the war against Boko Haram, in contrast to its military expenditure and capabilities including its modest strides in Liberia and Sierra Leone. The study argues that Nigeria's inability to contain the Boko Haram insurgency can be sited within the context of its homegrown systemic challenges; particularly, the politicisation of its national security. It t...

Regional Security and Threat Dynamics: Lake Chad Region in Perspective
Aziâ i Afrika segodnâ, 2023
The Lake Chad (LC) region today is at crossroads, facing enormous security challenges from the Bo... more The Lake Chad (LC) region today is at crossroads, facing enormous security challenges from the Boko Haram / ISWAP insurgency with very important implications for regional stability. The largely unsecured borders of the region provide platforms for terrorist activities. Unarguably, cross-border security is a historical concern for the Lake Chad region countries. The authors attempt to explore the emerging regionalisation of (in) security and externality of threats around the Lake Chad region. Using the framework of Regional Security Complex Theory (RSCT), it conceptualises regional security within the trajectories of the threat in the region. RSCT provides a theoretical and conceptual framework for understanding the emergent structure and dynamics of regional security. The paper adopts the qualitative research method which offers an in-depth description and analysis of the regionalisation of security threats in the LC region. The paper unveils that despite a plethora of research on resurging threats of violent terrorism and the huge publicity of Boko Haram activities in the Lake Chad region, little is known within academia on the element of ethno-cultural and historical tendencies in regional security in the LC region. It thus posits that addressing the challenge of regional security, especially in the Lake Chad would require holistic approach that takes into consideration the ethno-cultural and historical ties and challenges of the region.

Vestnik RUDN. International Relations
The geographic area of the Sahel is of particular interest when examining regional security issue... more The geographic area of the Sahel is of particular interest when examining regional security issues that have negatively affected political, economic and social interaction on the African continent for decades. The region has seen a massive upsurge in lethal violence, and militant groups continue to expand their activities southward, now threatening coastal West Africa. The paper examines the links between the growing dynamics of the Sahel and the security of Liptako-Gourma, composed of groups of contiguous states rooted in historical and geographical environments. The paper empirically applies the Barry Buzan and Ole Wæver’s “Regional Security Complex Theory” (RSCT) as a framework for studying the discourse of security threats and the dynamics of security challenges in the region. The application of RSCT theory makes a significant contribution to understanding these regional security issues in the Liptako-Gourma region. The complex links between threats demonstrate the likely imposs...

Vestnik RUDN. International Relations, 2023
The geographic area of the Sahel is of particular interest when examining regional security issue... more The geographic area of the Sahel is of particular interest when examining regional security issues that have negatively affected political, economic and social interaction on the African continent for decades. The region has seen a massive upsurge in lethal violence, and militant groups continue to expand their activities southward, now threatening coastal West Africa. The paper examines the links between the growing dynamics of the Sahel and the security of Liptako-Gourma, composed of groups of contiguous states rooted in historical and geographical environments. The paper empirically applies the Barry Buzan and Ole Waever's "Regional Security Complex Theory" (RSCT) as a framework for studying the discourse of security threats and the dynamics of security challenges in the region. The application of RSCT theory makes a significant contribution to understanding these regional security issues in the Liptako-Gourma region. The complex links between threats demonstrate the likely impossibility of addressing these threats in isolation, and the need for a broader approach. The study interprets the current relationship between France and Mali in relation to Mali's withdrawal from the G5 Sahel Force as hostile. The authors argue that the regional nature of the security threats strongly supports the claim that geographic proximity is a major contributor to security interactions. The paper also reveals that the individual security of each state cannot be separated from that of its neighbors. Therefore, it is suggested that mutual interests could contribute to a stronger regional security initiative that integrates the fight against a common threat such as terrorism.

Xenophobic Threat to Nigerians Abroad – How Relevant is the Concept of “Afrocentrism”?
Uchenie zapiski Instituta Afriki RAN
The subject of this article is the relevance of Afrocentrism in the view of xenophobic threat to ... more The subject of this article is the relevance of Afrocentrism in the view of xenophobic threat to Nigerians abroad. The Afrocentrism in Nigeria’s foreign policy had been successful in both decolonization of Africa and the fight against apartheid in South Africa. However, the attacks on Nigerians abroad continue to question the price that Nigeria has paid in human, capital and material resources in ensuring peace on the continent. The fusion between policy and practice in the articulation and implementation of Nigeria’s foreign policy (often at the expense of its own people) reflects the sacrifices the country has made in its dedication to the continent. The study reveals that the history of Nigeria-Africa relations can be viewed in the light of conflict, cooperation, and competition. The study concludes that the Federal government should come up with policies that would change the current narrative in favour of Nigeria’s national interest vis-a-vis protecting its citizens abroad. It ...

Journal of Institute for African Studies , 2022
Abstract
The subject of this article is the relevance of Afrocentrism in the view of xenophobic... more Abstract
The subject of this article is the relevance of Afrocentrism in the view of xenophobic threat to Nigerians abroad. The Afrocentrism in Nigeria's foreign policy had been successful in both decolonization of Africa and the fight against apartheid in South Africa. However, the attacks on Nigerians abroad continue to question the price that Nigeria has paid in human, capital and material resources in ensuring peace on the continent. The fusion between policy and practice in the articulation and implementation of Nigeria's foreign policy (often at the expense of its own people) reflects the sacrifices the country has made in its dedication to the continent. The study reveals that the history of Nigeria-Africa relations can be viewed in the light of conflict, cooperation, and competition. The study concludes that the Federal government should come up with policies that would change the current narrative in favour of Nigeria's national interest visa -vis protecting its citizens abroad. It further recommends a number of measures to be taken, such as: soft power/public diplomacy; art diplomacy/cultural diplomacy; overseas investment/economic nationalism to protect the country's economy; prioritizing Nigeria's foreign policy on regional concern, etc.

The subject of this article is the relevance of Afrocentrism in the view of xenophobic threat to ... more The subject of this article is the relevance of Afrocentrism in the view of xenophobic threat to Nigerians abroad. The Afrocentrism in Nigeria's foreign policy had been successful in both decolonization of Africa and the fight against apartheid in South Africa. However, the attacks on Nigerians abroad continue to question the price that Nigeria has paid in human, capital and material resources in ensuring peace on the continent. The fusion between policy and practice in the articulation and implementation of Nigeria's foreign policy (often at the expense of its own people) reflects the sacrifices the country has made in its dedication to the continent. The study reveals that the history of Nigeria-Africa relations can be viewed in the light of conflict, cooperation, and competition. The study concludes that the Federal government should come up with policies that would change the current narrative in favour of Nigeria's national interest visa -vis protecting its citizens abroad. It further recommends a number of measures to be taken, such as: soft power/public diplomacy; art diplomacy/cultural diplomacy; overseas investment/economic nationalism to protect the country's economy; prioritizing Nigeria's foreign policy on regional concern, etc.

Education as a Viable Soft Power Initiative in Nigeria S Foreign Policy Implementation the Nigerian Foreign Service Academy as a Case Study
Cuadernos de Sofía, Feb 6, 2020
The paper examines education as an instrument of soft power. It offers the Nigeria’s Foreign Serv... more The paper examines education as an instrument of soft power. It offers the Nigeria’s Foreign Service Academy (FSA) as useful instrument for analysing geopolitical and soft power dynamics which influence and attraction transcend national boundaries, with the aim of ensuring peaceful coexistence across national frontiers. It emphasizes Nigeria’s Afrocentric posture in Africa and its effects particularly on Nigerian citizens abroad. Methodologically, it employs the use of descriptive analysis relying solely on secondary information for data generation and analysis. It concludes that, it would be of Nigeria’s interest to train selected diplomats and young leaders in Africa at the FSA on a short-term basis. This is expected to provide the needed opportunity for Nigeria to transport and impact ideas of African unity. It will as well serve as viable channel for transmitting Nigeria's national interest while promoting Africa's unity and the value of peace and stability in Africa to young African diplomats/leaders.
Au-Hybrid Peacekeeping Mission: Building Productive Partnerships
Азия и Африка сегодня, Apr 1, 2017

The article analyses the different nature of conflicts that have occurred in Africa since the end... more The article analyses the different nature of conflicts that have occurred in Africa since the end of Cold War. A special attention is given to the role of external factors in the process of conflict evolution and the escalation of violence on the African continent. In effect, this paper demonstrates through a critical examination of the meaning of proxy war as, zone of influence or provocation of instability as a strategy and an analysis of its employment by the United States and China, France etc. in Africa. The new potential confrontation between the United States and China as in Sudan, France in its former coloniesis not only based on a clash of world views about the structure and nature of international relations and security but largely over the control of strategically vital energy resources based in Africa. The authors conclude that this ultimately creates permanent tensions or bitter conflicts between the actors and African populations as a factor that have negative impact o...

VESTNIK RUDN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, 2017
The paper offered a review of Africa's moral call for reparation. It emphasized among other thing... more The paper offered a review of Africa's moral call for reparation. It emphasized among other things that the continued underdevelopment and marginalization of the African continent today, is not unconnected with the trilogy of slavery, imperialism and colonialism. From the perspective of the British expedition of the Great Benin Kingdom in 1897, the paper highlighted how the African continent had been brutalized to strengthen the economies of their colonial overlords. The paper anchored its call for reparation on the premise that, reparation is not only recognized in international law, it has been paid to countries of the world whose dehumanizing experiences are not even as pathetic as those of Africa's over 500 years of abject treatment, damages and destruction occasioned by slavery, imperialism and colonialism. It unveiled also the scholarly argument opposed to reparation. The work thus proposes that reparations from the western countries to Africa should be on cooperative and partnership basis. This should be in favour of development through deliberate international efforts in recompensing Africa for all the ills visited on her by the west.

Vestnik RUDN. International Relations, 2020
The paper explores the role and the power potential of Nigeria and South Africa with special atte... more The paper explores the role and the power potential of Nigeria and South Africa with special attention to their comparatively high military, economic, political capabilities that enable them to shape and dominate regional agenda. It also analyses the internal, regional and external dynamics within Africa, particularly in Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and Southern African Development Community (SADC). The paper further thoroughly examines the hegemonic contest for the UN Security Council membership among the dominant African states through the lens of Ezulwini Consensus, as well as the Pan-African credentials of Nigeria and South Africa in accordance to their contribution to ensuring peace, stability and development on continental and sub-regional levels. Nigeria and South Africa are the most important actors on the African continent, but there are obvious constraints undermining their ability to play an effective regional role. Thus, the research was guided by t...
Securitisation initiatives and the lingering security challenges in Sub-Saharan Sahel region: An appraisal
African Security Review

Conceptualisation of regional instability in Sahel: modelling ABM–AfriLand-Rebel Approach
Journal of Contemporary African Studies
The paper models domestic (internal) and cross-border dynamics of instability through the lens of... more The paper models domestic (internal) and cross-border dynamics of instability through the lens of 'ABM modelling-AfriLand-Rebel'. It examines the post-Gaddafi Libya and its export of instability in the region. It gives a useful balance of analysis on socio-cultural and environmental dynamics which transcend national boundaries, such as the influx and out-flux of refugee flows, insurgency, transnational conflict and crime in the Sahel. It examines the broader regional implications of conflict due to refugee flows, proliferation of weapons and spill over effects of insecurity. Methodologically, it employs the use of descriptive analysis relying solely on secondary information for data generation and analysis. The paper therefore posits that ensuring future stability in the region would require investments in education, infrastructure, poverty alleviation and good governance initiatives, all of which are critical to addressing the broader causes and spread of insecurity and violent extremism in the Sahel region.

Modern Historical Thought, 2021
A number of studies have reviewed the Nigerian Government and military strategy and quest to defe... more A number of studies have reviewed the Nigerian Government and military strategy and quest to defeat the dreaded islamist militant
known as Boko Haram vis-à-vis the claims of Boko Haram defeat and the seeming inability to contain the threats posed by members
of the sect. Drawing references from scholarly articles, electronic channels, and other commissioned reports, the paper explains why
despite the rise in security budget from about US$1.44 billion in 2009 to US2.81 billion in 2018, military-led counterinsurgency
operation in Nigeria still faces some notable challenges. The paper further examines why Nigeria appears to be losing the war against
Boko Haram, in contrast to its military expenditure and capabilities including its modest strides in Liberia and Sierra Leone. The study
argues that Nigeria’s inability to contain the Boko Haram insurgency can be sited within the context of its homegrown systemic
challenges; particularly, the politicisation of its national security. It therefore contends that a thorough overhaul of the military
counterinsurgency operations at all levels is necessary for a more effective and accountable force capable of defeating Boko Haram
insurgency.
Key words: Boko Haram, Insurgency, Hard power, Military expenditure, Terrorism, security in Nigeria.

International Journal of Engineering & Technology
This paper explores the major impediments to peace and widespread interest in Sahel violence and ... more This paper explores the major impediments to peace and widespread interest in Sahel violence and stability. It examines the expansion of violent extremism across the Sahel and the direct consequence of unrest across North Africa. It assesses worrisome development in the region’s security landscape as these violent extremist organizations grow and develop sophisticated networks. It discovers that these emerging threats can be illustrated by the unique challenges facing Libya, Mali, Nigeria, and other countries in the region. Hence the strategies and assistance of Major Powers in ensuring the security and stability of the Sahel region, as it goes well beyond terrorism. Methodologically, it employs the use of descriptive analysis relying solely on secondary information for data generation and articulation. The study therefore suggests among others that, rather than attempt to stifle regional conflicts through military intervention, Major Powers should encourage regional initiatives. Ma...

Conceptualisation of regional instability in Sahel: modelling ABM-AfriLand-Rebel Approach
Journal of Contemporary African Studies, 2020
The paper models domestic (internal) and cross-border dynamics of instability through the lens of... more The paper models domestic (internal) and cross-border dynamics of instability through the lens of 'ABM modelling-AfriLand-Rebel'. It examines the post-Gaddafi Libya and its export of instability in the region. It gives a useful balance of analysis on socio-cultural and environmental dynamics which transcend national boundaries, such as the influx and out-flux of refugee flows, insurgency, transnational conflict and crime in the Sahel. It examines the broader regional implications of conflict due to refugee flows, proliferation of weapons and spill over effects of insecurity. Methodologically, it employs the use of descriptive analysis relying solely on secondary information for data generation and analysis. The paper therefore posits that ensuring future stability in the region would require investments in education, infrastructure, poverty alleviation and good governance initiatives, all of which are critical to addressing the broader causes and spread of insecurity and violent extremism in the Sahel region.

Revista Inclusiones, 2020
The paper examines education as an instrument of soft power. It offers the Nigeria’s Foreign Serv... more The paper examines education as an instrument of soft power. It offers the Nigeria’s Foreign Service Academy (FSA) as useful instrument for analysing geopolitical and soft power dynamics which influence and attraction transcend national boundaries, with the aim of ensuring peaceful coexistence across national frontiers. It emphasizes Nigeria’s Afrocentric posture in Africa and its effects particularly on Nigerian citizens abroad. Methodologically, it employs the use of descriptive analysis relying solely on secondary information for data generation and analysis. It concludes that, it would be of Nigeria’s interest to train selected diplomats and young leaders in Africa at the FSA on a short-term basis. This is expected to provide the needed opportunity for Nigeria to transport and impact ideas of African unity. It will as well serve as viable channel for transmitting Nigeria's national interest while promoting Africa's unity and the value of peace and stability in Africa to young African diplomats/leaders.
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Papers by Stephen O Idahosa, Ph.D
The subject of this article is the relevance of Afrocentrism in the view of xenophobic threat to Nigerians abroad. The Afrocentrism in Nigeria's foreign policy had been successful in both decolonization of Africa and the fight against apartheid in South Africa. However, the attacks on Nigerians abroad continue to question the price that Nigeria has paid in human, capital and material resources in ensuring peace on the continent. The fusion between policy and practice in the articulation and implementation of Nigeria's foreign policy (often at the expense of its own people) reflects the sacrifices the country has made in its dedication to the continent. The study reveals that the history of Nigeria-Africa relations can be viewed in the light of conflict, cooperation, and competition. The study concludes that the Federal government should come up with policies that would change the current narrative in favour of Nigeria's national interest visa -vis protecting its citizens abroad. It further recommends a number of measures to be taken, such as: soft power/public diplomacy; art diplomacy/cultural diplomacy; overseas investment/economic nationalism to protect the country's economy; prioritizing Nigeria's foreign policy on regional concern, etc.
known as Boko Haram vis-à-vis the claims of Boko Haram defeat and the seeming inability to contain the threats posed by members
of the sect. Drawing references from scholarly articles, electronic channels, and other commissioned reports, the paper explains why
despite the rise in security budget from about US$1.44 billion in 2009 to US2.81 billion in 2018, military-led counterinsurgency
operation in Nigeria still faces some notable challenges. The paper further examines why Nigeria appears to be losing the war against
Boko Haram, in contrast to its military expenditure and capabilities including its modest strides in Liberia and Sierra Leone. The study
argues that Nigeria’s inability to contain the Boko Haram insurgency can be sited within the context of its homegrown systemic
challenges; particularly, the politicisation of its national security. It therefore contends that a thorough overhaul of the military
counterinsurgency operations at all levels is necessary for a more effective and accountable force capable of defeating Boko Haram
insurgency.
Key words: Boko Haram, Insurgency, Hard power, Military expenditure, Terrorism, security in Nigeria.