Summary

Political stability in Africa is constantly undermined and its current stage of development exacerbated by continual ethnic conflicts. This volume brings together some of the finest African scholars to examine why ethnicity has become such a dysfunctional characteristic of African politics.Illustrated by a critical analysis of ethnic politics in countries such as Nigeria, Kenya and Sierra Leone, this book argues that, contrary to the view of nationalists and pan-Africanists, ethnicity in itself is something to be celebrated, and that it is the manipulation of ethnicity by political entrepreneurs to further their individual interest which must be shunned. It also reveals that for a majority of citizens the role of the state is seen increasingly as being 'irrelevant' and repressive and it suggests that a reconstructed 'state' which is relevant to all ethnicities is required.