Conceptualising national interest in Nigerian foreign policy: A focus on Abacha Regime
National interest is an important concept in the field of International Relations (1R) which scholars pinpoint to examine the action of states within the global system.Such examination, according to IR scholars, takes into cognizance some salient features of a particular state in defining the nation...
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| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
JESOC
2016
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://repo.uum.edu.my/20674/1/JESS%205%202%202016%20346%20351.pdf http://repo.uum.edu.my/20674/ http://jesoc.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/KC5_211.pdf |
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| Summary: | National interest is an important concept in the field of International Relations (1R) which scholars pinpoint to examine the action of states within the global system.Such examination, according to IR scholars, takes into cognizance some salient features of a particular state in defining the national interest.As would be expected, all independent states within the
international system formulate foreign policies that take care of the domestic and external imperatives and most of the states’ action and behaviours within the international system have always been interpreted from the lens of national interest. As it is not practicable to subject all states and governments to empirical details in a study, this research employs the concept of national interest to discern Nigerian foreign policy direction under the most “despotic regime” in Nigeria history, General Sanni Abacha, between 1993 and 1998.This is expedient given the continuous criticism of the regime from both academic and policy quarters in Nigeria and abroad.The regime is recorded to have the worst record in human right abuse and as such put Nigeria under pariah status in the comity of nations.The research is conducted to unravel how Abacha defined and conceptualised Nigeria’s national interests and how policies were formulated and implemented to achieved such interests. In such instance, it might be possible to evolve empirical details on why Abacha had chosen to behave the way he did.Thus, in conducting the research the theory of national interest is a guidepost while content and discourse analysis are employed as method of data
analysis. |
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