Africa's big men : predatory state-society relations in Africa / edited by Kenneth Kalu, Olajumoke Yacob-Haliso and Toyin Falola.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction / Kenneth Kalu, Olajumoke Yacob-Haliso and Toyin Falola -- The postcolonial African state and its citizens / Kenneth Kalu -- Africas "big men" and the African state / Kenneth Kalu -- Women, inclusive citizenship and the African state / Cheryl O'Brien and Adryan Wallace -- Women's political empowerment and the politics of citizenship in Nigeria and Tanzania / Olajide A. Akanji -- Digital citizenship in Africa's fractured social order / Emmanuel Chijioke Ogbonna -- Civil society and the African state / Alex Ng'oma -- Youth and big men politics / Ngozi Nwogwugwu -- Culture and religion in Africa: social transformation and tools for exploitation / Susan Mbula Kilonzo -- Pastocracy: performing pentecostal politics in Africa / Abimbola Adunni Adelakun -- Ethnic identity politics and the sustenance of Africa's predatory state / Gashawbeza W. Bekele and Adebayo Oyebade -- Accountability theory and democracy in Nigeria / Olajumoke Yacob-Haliso and Adigun Agbaje -- State-society relations and nature of economic growth in Africa / Samuel Zalanga -- The social impact of Africa's predatory state-society relations / Samuel O. Oloruntoba -- Africa's "big men" in the continent's democratic experiments / Ernest Toochi Aniche.

This book spotlights, analyzes and explains varying forms and patterns of state-society relations on the African continent, taking as point of departure the complexities created by the emergence, proliferation and complicated interactions of so-called 'big men' across Africa's fifty-four states. The contributors interrogate the evolution of Africa's big men; the role of the big men in Africa's political and economic development; and the relationship between the state, the big men and the citizens. Throughout the chapters the contributors engage with a number of questions from different disciplinary and methodological orientations. How did these states evolve to exhibit various deformities in their composition, functioning and in their relations with the societies that they governWhat roles did Atlantic and other slavery and European colonialism play in creating states that are unable to display the right and good relationships with citizens in civil societyWhy did these forms of predatory state-society relations continue to thrive in Africa after the end of Atlantic slave trade and subsequent colonialismWhy did the emerging African leaders at independence fail to effectively dismantle the structures of exploitation and expropriation that were the defining features of slavery and colonialismWho are Africa's 'big men', and what are their trajectoriesThis book is essential reading for all students and scholars of African politics, public policy and administration, political economy, and democratisation.