Chapter ten unpacks the Nigerian film industry (Nollywood), faith-based organisations (international mega-churches), and contributions to African scholarship (literature) as the primary sources of Nigeria’s soft power. As a matter of urgency, the national governments of the two economic heavyweights need to take deliberate and concrete steps to set both economies on the pathway of sustainable economic growth.īesides wielding military might and economic strength, Nigeria and South Africa both have enviable soft power which can be utilised for image-building abroad, and to achieve articulated foreign policy objectives. However, Nigeria cannot celebrate this economic accomplishment as it would love to, seeing as South Africa’s GDP per capita dwarfs that of Nigeria. This immediately made mineral-endowed South Africa, that prided itself as the biggest economy in Africa, the second-largest economy in the region. In 2014, mineral and oil-rich Nigeria became the largest economy in Africa following the rebasing of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP). ![]() This brings us to the other component of hard power - economic capability, which chapter seven touches on in its discourse of Nigeria-South Africa economic relations. The two countries cannot, however, afford “reckless power projections” (p.80) in SSA or elsewhere at the moment. Considering the military capabilities of these regional powers, Nigeria and South Africa can responsibly project military power within West Africa and Southern Africa respectively. Though Nigeria has produced a small amount of reconnaissance drones, armoured tanks, patrol boats etc., it does, along with several countries in and outside Africa, import new military equipment from South Africa from time to time. ![]() Setting apart post-apartheid South Africa from Nigeria is the sophisticated military equipment of the former. However, the military personnel of both countries vary in size. In Africa, as chapter four points out, Nigeria and South Africa have the biggest defence budget in the West African and Southern African sub-regions respectively. Starting from 1999, the chapter gives instances of cooperation, competition, and disagreement between the two African countries.īefore any state can be accorded the title of regional hegemon, it must possess and exert relatively unmatchable hard power within the region in which it is geographically located. Chapter two takes a step further by employing Afrocentricity to expound the multifaceted relations of South Africa and Nigeria. Interestingly, the editors of the book bring this long-standing issue of the “intellectual marginalisation” (p.3) of Africa to the forefront in chapter one. Over the years, sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) in particular has been marginalised in the generation of knowledge in IR. Finally, it offers a comparative perspective on the leadership role of the aforementioned countries at the sub-regional level, and in Africa at large. Third, it includes the element of soft power in regional hegemony studies in Africa. Second, it juxtaposes the hard power of Nigeria and South Africa. First, it inserts the African perspective on regional hegemony into International Relations (IR). Comprising twelve chapters in total, the book meets four cardinal objectives. Power Politics in Africa is an edited volume that examines Nigeria and South Africa’s bilateral relations, military and economic capabilities, soft power, and indeed, their hegemonic rivalry in Africa. ![]() Po wer Politics in Africa: Nigeria and South Africa in Comparative PerspectiveĮdited by Olusola Ogunnubi and Samuel Oyewole
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