Nigeria’s National Image and Her Foreign Policy: An Exploratory Approach
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Scientific Research Publishing
Abstract
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The task of this paper is to critically appraise the relationship between Nigeria’s national image
and her foreign policy since independence. In doing this, it embarked on a historical and analytical
examination of the contradictions that are embedded in Nigeria’s foreign policy and their fundamental
link to the country’s domestic crisis. The article observes that Nigeria’s foreign policy over
the years has been grossly sabotaged and undermined by image crisis both nationally and internationally.
Relying heavily on secondary data, and anchored fundamentally on the role theory as a
framework of analysis, the paper argues that Nigeria’s role expectations at different “concentric
circles” of her foreign policy have generated multiple role perceptions, thus leading to unintended
role conflict. The direct implication of this is confusion and dissonance in the domestic institutional
and constitutional mechanisms that impel foreign policy formulation and implementation.
Consequently, the paper concludes that resolution of the distortions embedded in the country’s
foreign policy is the only panacea to resolving her national and international image crisis. It therefore,
canvasses an imperative need for Nigeria to transform her convoluted foreign policy, redirect
her diplomatic compass and re-align her foreign policy architecture to reflect the demands of a
globalizing world
Keywords
JA Political science (General)