Event Recap: Democracy and Disorder: Governance and Violence in Nigeria

On Monday, September 21 SAIS DC Professor and Vice Dean for Faculty Affairs Dr. Peter M. Lewis spoke with SAIS Europe students on the topic of Politics and Violence in Nigeria.

The central question to Dr. Lewis' lecture explored why democracy has persisted in Nigeria while public order seems to be deteriorating. Lewis emphasized that there is no one, simple explanation that addresses every dimension of the country's internal conflicts. Rather, a complex combination of social, economic, and political tensions have all slowly converged, exacerbating one another and resulting in a wider state of disorder. Lewis argues that economic development has stalled due to a lack of managerial stabilization at the government level. The absence of a sound, productive economic agenda has left the nation vulnerable to the volatile fluctuations of oil prices. Other major concerns include economic disputes between farmers and herders, regional insurgencies instigated by both by religious and secular groups, political rent seeking, election interference, and extreme poverty which all work together to create an environment ripe for Lewis describes as "violence entrepreneurship." Those who find themselves at the margins either through lack of economic opportunity or political representation can take advantage of these structural vulnerabilities to improve their own situation. Students posed questions about the role of the global diaspora, expansion of the Dangote oil pipeline and petroleum refinery, and the directional nature between Nigerian democracy and political disorder to which Lewis provided pragmatic, yet optimistic insight into the possibilities for harness external variables for the benefit and development of the nation. Lewis indicated that many topics discussed during the Seminar Series event will be covered in greater depth in forthcoming book chapters. Previous works include Nigeria's Oil Booms: A Changing Political Economy, in The Oxford Handbook of Nigerian Politics, Aspirations and Realities in Africa: Five Reflections, in the Journal of Democracy, and Africa's Political Economy in the Contemporary Era, in The Oxford Handbook of the Politics of Development.

Event summary written by Ehianeta Arheghan, SAIS '27

---

hosted by Professor Renaud Dehousse


Nigeria has sustained an electoral regime since 1999. However, violence and internal disorder have steadily worsened. The presentation considers the linkages between democracy, development, and disorder.


Peter M Lewis

Peter Lewis is the Vice Dean for Faculty Affairs and Warren Weinstein Chair of African Studies at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). Lewis, who served as SAIS Associate Dean for Academic and Faculty Affairs from 2015 to 2018, has directed the school's Africa Studies program since joining Johns Hopkins SAIS in 2006.

Lewis' research and teaching focus on economic reform and political transition in developing countries, with particular emphasis on governance and development in sub-Saharan Africa. He has written extensively on economic adjustment, democratization, and civil society in Africa; democratic reform and political economy in Nigeria; public attitudes toward reform and democracy in West Africa; and the comparative politics of economic change in Africa and Southeast Asia. His most recent book, Coping with Crisis in African States, examines sources of resilience and fragility across African countries and presents a series of critical cases. His previous book, Growing Apart: Politics and Economic Change in Indonesia and Nigeria, is concerned with the institutional basis of economic development. Lewis has published several other co-authored and edited books, numerous book chapters, and articles in World Politics, World Development, the Journal of Democracy, the Journal of Modern African Studies, African Affairs, and others.

Lewis is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the editorial board of the Journal of Democracy. He has consulted for the Ford Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, the Carter Center, the Council on Foreign Relations, Freedom House, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the World Bank. He received a bachelor's degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and masters and doctorate degrees from Princeton University.

If you cannot attend the event in person and wish to watch the session online, please register below: