Realism, Power And The Nigerian Civil War

The Sierra Leones Civil War, started in 1991 and ended in 2002.In more than a decade cities were destroyed and occupied, people displaced, women raped and children forced to become soldiers. Man were mostly used in the diamond’s mines or deployed in illegal armed forces. At the very beginning, in 1991 the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) from Liberia moved to Sierra Leone to overthrow the Joseph Momoh government. In the meanwhile, the Sierra Leone Army tried its best to protect the huge amount of diamonds’ mines. Those mines, through the illicit commerce all over the world, fuelled the RUF and the NPFL (National Patriotic Front of Liberia) or later in the years the AFRC (Armed Forces Revolutionary Council), to support theirs military expenses with the revenues.

In a realist world, states have “supreme power” over its territory and population, there is an absence of a higher authority. The fact that there is no higher authority has its consequences. States become self-interested, they compete for power and security. It can lead states to continuously struggle for power “where the strong dominate the weak (Kegley, 28).” This ultimately creates a system in which each state is responsible for its own survival, making them cautious towards their neighboring states. In addition, a realist world is a self-help system; “political leaders seek to enhance national security” by building armies and forming alliances (Kegley, 28). Economic and military power are key components to a state sovereignty and to national security.

Furthermore, root causes of conflict on the continent are often associated with internal issues or an ‘African problem’. Alison Ayers discusses the false perception of civil war and ‘failed states’ that have been created and implemented by the West (Ayers 2012). She disputes that civil war is internally instigated and only portrayed this way due to western representations of Africa through media. Ayers states that these efforts are made by hegemonic powers and are ‘ideologically and politically convenient’ (Ayers 2012, 261). Her implications here suggest that these ideological subjugations render African regions vulnerable for the use of exploitation and continuous dependency on external powers. This becomes the norm of African perception

The foreign, military and economic policies of states, the intersections of these policies in areas of change or dispute, and the general structure of relations which they create, are all analysed in terms of aspirations to achieve national and/or international security. Security is most commonly associated with the alleviation of threats to cherished values (Williams; 2008). However this is a definition that is undesirably vague and a reflection of the inherent nature of security as an ‘essentially contested concept’ (Gallie; 1962). Security in the modern day context has many key concepts associated with it: uncertainty, war, terrorism, genocide and mass killing, ethnic conflict, coercion,

Realism by its own definition refers to a theory that analyzes the relations among states, highlighting human nature as a major factor in politics. Motivations for global outreach, relationships, and conflicts are described as consequences from human aspects, such as fear, the desire to seek wealth, et cetera. Pessimism permeates the core of realism. Realists argue that power must be sought out in order for states to exist as thriving groups, even if it means to participate in conflicts (Baylis et al., 2017, 102). States are seen as the primary actors to focus upon when analyzing international relations (Houghton, 2007, 25). This broad approach brings heavy focus upon the issues which regard global peace and war and how major powers interact and maintain relations, assigning less focus at the individual level of analysis.

International Relations is a field of politics that takes a look at the interactions that occur in between states in the international arena. Its aim is to explain why certain events have unfolded in certain ways, as a result of how states use their power relatively to each other. Mostly the interactions that International Relations tries to examine or explain, is the conflicts that arise as a result of differing interests that states have. To provide a base for analysis, this essay is going to use the central theory of realism to explain the civil war that occurred in Nigeria in between 1967 to 1970. This essay will seek to explain

The role and nature of African agency has been debated, and is a contentious issue, especially with regard to its role in shaping the contemporary international relations (IR) of the continent. The nature of African agency is weak and inadequate, however the continent does have some influence in aspects of political debate and the potential to become more prominent. African agency is a broad, yet core concept which is; the ‘ability of states as primary actors in the international system to produce both hard and soft capabilities in pursuit of their national interests (Andreasson 2013). This essay will first discuss the nature of African agency, and the viewpoints contributing to it, then will discuss and analyse its role in shaping the contemporary IR of Africa, and the challenges it faces.

This article is focused on the historical incidents of ethnic conflicts in within Nigeria societies, the cause of the conflicts and perhaps, the government actions towards ethnic conflict in the country. In conclusion, this paper will explore into decision-making (by the elites and those in authority) process has contributed immensely in generating the syndromes of conflict in the said state.

The background of this conflict is entrenched in; Ethnic division, Politics and economics of federalism. The Nigerian Civil War, also known as the Biafran War, 6 July 1967 – 15 January 1970, was a war fought to counter the secession of Biafra from Nigeria. Biafra represented nationalist aspirations of the Igbo people, whose leadership felt they could no longer coexist with the Northern-dominated federal government. The conflict resulted from political, economic, ethnic, cultural and religious tensions which preceded Britain's formal decolonization of Nigeria in 1960–1963. Immediate causes of the war in 1966 included a military coup, a counter-coup, and persecution of Igbos living in Northern Nigeria. Control over oil production in the Niger

Civil Peace is set in the early 1970's in the country of Nigeria. There had been a civil war in the late 1960's that had had a devastating effect on the country. When the civil war had

4 Analyze the effects of the cold war on apartheid in South Africa or on another specified issue and region or country.

Authors have identified remote and immediate causes of the Nigerian Civil War. There were remote and immediate causes of the civil war. While the remote causes of the civil war in Nigeria are factors that imply that there were underlying factors that gradually built up overtime the tension that eventually led to the civil war, the immediate causes were simply triggers to the tension that had reached boiling point. These causes shall be summarized to include but not restricted to the following as discussed below.

With the number of deaths being over 500,000 (Shillington,2005), the Angolan Civil War only ended in 2002, after struggling for 27 years ever since obtaining independence from Portugal. The Angolan Civil War began in Angola after the end of the war for independence from Portugal in 1975. The war featured conflict between two primary Angolan factions, the Communist MPLA and the anti-Communist UNITA. There are several causes of this war, such as the power vacuum, resource fighting and ethnic tensions. Hence, in this essay, I hope to analyze these causes and afterwards decide which cause play the most critical role in the civil war.

The conflict between Hegemony and Petrol dates back seventy-five years, when land was unfairly distributed, in favor of Petrol, after the two states gained independence. This territorial dispute elicited the belief by Hegemony that Petrol is not a state. Hegemony yearns to regain the oil fields currently owned by Petrol. The conflict escalated when an anti-Petrol group arose, in which, is supported by Hegemony’s government. Throughout the conflict, Hegemony has violated international law by disrupting Petrol’s territorial integrity with state sponsored terrorist groups and the buildup of nuclear weapons. This conflict lead to utilization of two political principles, Internationalism and Realism, whose similarity will be further discussed in the essay. The actions taken by the country being attacked, Petrol, exemplify Realism. Whereas the actions taken by the neighboring country, Concordia, exemplify Internationalism.

Realism is one of the main theories within International Relations. It provides the view that all actors within the international system act on their own self-interests to gain power. This essay intends to discuss its usefulness as a theory and the reasons for and against it being used to analyse world affairs. Firstly, it shall discuss how the theory is advantageous as it explains how shifts in the balance of power can lead to conflict however it is unable to explain why the distribution of power changes. Second, it will portray how it is useful because states do not need to be labelled as good or bad to fit the theory although it disregards the idea of Natural law and gives a cynical view of human morality. Finally, it will suggest that as the theory is very parsimonious, it can be applied to multiple situations within the world system. On the other hand, it will be said that it fails to look at individuals within a state and their influence on the actions of the state. These costs and benefits will be conveyed through the current tensions between the USA and North Korea to link the theory in with current world politics.