Research
Introducing Nigeria's CAPITALIST MILITICIAN TM
Since independence in 1960, the Nigerian government is estimated to have lost over 400 billion dollars to corruption and has consistently ranked as one of the most corrupt countries in the world. This begs the question: what is so distinctive about Nigeria’s corruption?
My general contention is that the starting point to understand corruption lies not in the cultural antecedents of colonization in Africa during the 19th century but rather, more principally, in the ideological dictate of global capitalist development in the 20th
century. Thus, the specific task of my research is not to designate the precise point of corruption’s origin but rather, to delineate how corruption developed in Nigeria over a particular period against the backdrop of the capitalist world economy.
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My doctoral dissertation titled, The Making of The Capitalist Militician: A Study of Political Economy of Corruption in Nigeria, 1970 - 2015, posits that Nigeria’s corruption condition is the result of the emergence of what I have termed Nigeria’s “Capitalist Militician” TM – the hybridized melding of military agent of security, state agent of political power, and economic agent of capital accumulation and distribution in Nigeria into one singular institutional actor and arbiter of power.
I contend that the combination of four exogenous and four endogenous variables instigated this new political actor in Nigeria, who emerged within the context of a set of incentives and constraints with respect to the relationship between external global capital and Nigeria’s internal political institution.
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My current research centers on converting my dissertation on the Capitalist Militician into a four-part book manuscript on the Political Economy of Corruption in Nigeria.
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Four part book manuscript project on Nigeria’s Political Economy of Corruption
Book
1
“The Making of The Capitalist Militician”
Book
2
“Corruption and Capital Flight"
The Rise and Fall of SAP and FDI in Nigeria
Book
3
“Nigeria’s Unchanging MiddleMan Economy"
Syndicates and Service Chiefs
Book
4
"Corruption and Nigeria’s Underworld of (Dis)Organized Crime”
Other Draft Manuscripts in Progress​​
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“The Fall After the Spring: The Rise of Corruption in Transitioning Arab States”
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"COVID and Corruption: ​Social Pandemic and Institutional Pathology"
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"Tocqueville to Trump: Democratic Despotism, Crony Capitalism, and Corruption"
Draft Manuscripts in Progress
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“Men on the Mount: An Exploration of The Mont Pelerin Society and The Return to Liberal Economics”
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“Historical Contingencies: Temporal Discoveries in Political Economy of Development Analysis”
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“Modernization: A Meal or Malnourishment - East Asian Tigers and West African Lions”
My research on the political economy of development comprises a theoretical and policy-oriented gaze exploring competing causal explanations for the dramatic variation in political, economic, and social conditions worldwide.
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Primarily my interrogation focuses on two aspects. First, a theoretical temporal examination that asks, to what extent does the timing of industrialization affect the viability of certain developmental strategies and impact development outcomes? Second, is an assessment of the state's role in the development process, particularly in how state involvement affects the political economy of international finance. This work examines globalization and the nature and design of the contemporary world economic system by exploring the hegemonic capitalist liberalization project of the 20th century.