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Oil, Insecurity, And Subversive Patriots in the Niger Delta: The Ogoni As Agent of Revolutionary Change (Third WORLD PROBLEMS AND ISSUES: PAST AND PRESENT)

eBook details

Title: Oil, Insecurity, And Subversive Patriots in the Niger Delta: The Ogoni As Agent of Revolutionary Change (Third WORLD PROBLEMS AND ISSUES: PAST AND PRESENT)
Author : Journal of Third World Studies
Release Date : January 22, 2009
Genre: Politics & Current Events,Books,
Pages : * pages
Size : 369 KB

Description

INTRODUCTION Enduring conflicts and violence in the Niger Delta have redefined the region as an unstable terrain in public consciousness. The prevalence of conflicts in the region has, thus, engaged sustained attention. The concern is marked by controversy over the motivational underbelly of the conflicts. While some scholars understand the conflicts as the legitimate actions of local communities to secure their environment and livelihoods, others approach them as no more than a parochial thrust for inclusion in the networks of patronage. Thus, there is a polarization of approaches to the conflicts. While the debate may have been helpful, it remains the case that whether motivated by legitimate or selfish ends, both camps inadvertently portray internal conflict in materialist and provincial terms. Such is the case to the extent that either side of the debate begins from the premise that the conflict entrepreneurs aim at privileging particularistic interests over the national good. Notwithstanding their polarity, therefore, both perspectives share in common a materialist understanding of conflict that is at best provincial and at worst egocentric. This paper argues that a little more attention to the voices of insurgents reveals the complex constitution of why they challenge authorities. Such motivations cannot be criminalized apriori because they are not only redistribution inclined and self-directed, but also recognition attuned and altruistic. Such insight is hidden by the predilection to isolate and separate analytically what in reality is entangled. Employing the Ogoni conflict as case study, the paper fleshes out the theoretical and practical utility of a holistic approach to conflict studies.