About Me
Okon Akiba
As professor of Comparative and International Politics (York University, Toronto, Canada), my research explores and illuminates the challenges of constitutionalism and society in Africa, including opportunities for political change. I have written books in the area as well as several articles on global issues in professional journals such as Futures, Natural Resources Journal, Environmental Conservation among others. I consult for the World Bank (Transparency and Asset Declaration relating to the Government of Tanzania), Rockefeller Foundation (West Africa Horizon Scanning Project), and the Carter Center (Electoral Processes in Africa). I have been a British Overseas Commonwealth Scholar.
Political Change and Constitutionalism in Africa
Political Change and Constitutionalism in Africa examines the complexities of government and obstacles facing constitutional democracy in transitional African societies.
The chapters provide a critical, conceptual framework to probe, interpret and understand the dimensions of current and impending challenges to constitutional government in the African continent. The contributors explain why deep inequalities and harsh repression persist in most transitional African countries, despite constitutionally guaranteed rights and the ongoing, practical efforts to expand participation through political liberalization. The book demonstrates the importance of sustaining public confidence in democracy and provides provocative ideas about how to deal with new, prodigious configurations of power that are stubbornly resisting real institutional change.
Constitutionalism and Society in Africa
The issues addressed in this rewarding book provide new insight into the way we conceive, reflect and study the problems of political transformation and constitution-making in Africa. The study provides a refreshingly in-depth analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of constitutional provisions for managing the challenges of race, religion, ethnicity, citizenship, civil liberties and civil-military relations in Africa's transitional democracies. Tracing emerging trends in constitution-making, it blends the theory of constitutional democracy with case studies, and defines the imperative of social justice.
Preventive Diplomacy, Security, and Human Rights in West Africa
This edited volume focuses on the conflict prevention mechanism of the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS. The contributors discuss complex socio-political and economic issues and use across disciplinary approach to treat most of the dominant research questions in the field. The chapters come nicely together in a kaleidoscope of knowledge deriving from scholarly investigative traditions in political science, anthropology, economics, law, and sociology. The book is conceived as a source of reference and for graduate courses in African politics, development, human rights, transnational law, and international public policy.
Nigerian Foreign Policy Towards Africa: Continuity and Change
What is the central purpose of writing Nigerian Foreign Policy Towards Africa? In part, it is to advance the study and understanding of the distinct relations among contemporary African states. This study is as much an integrated assessment of the development of Nigeria's African policies as it is an analytical overview of the structural factors impeding the adoption of rational policies towards the collective management of conflicts, promotion of economic cooperation, and political democratization in Africa. Issues raised in this study will facilitate further insight into how the dominant class in control of state power might use the instruments of foreign policy to restructure Africa's external economic relations, in order to effect fundamental change in the prevailing condition of underdevelopment.