Rethinking African Diplomacy Theory: An Original Framework Grounded in Nigerian Foreign Policy Practice, 1960 to 2024

This dissertation challenges the dominance of Western-generated diplomatic theory in the analysis of African foreign policy, developing an original African Diplomacy Theory grounded in the empirical record of Nigerian foreign policy practice from independence in 1960 to 2024. Existing international relations theory, drawing on the European Westphalian state system and Cold War great power dynamics, systematically misrepresents the distinctive structures, constraints, and logics of African diplomatic practice, including the primacy of continental solidarity norms, the influence of domestic ethnic politics on foreign policy, and the centrality of multilateral African institutions as arenas for normative contestation. The dissertation employs a historical-empirical theory-building methodology combining systematic analysis of 65 years of Nigerian foreign policy archival records, 85 elite interviews with serving and retired diplomats, ministers, and foreign policy scholars, and comparative case analysis of 12 critical foreign policy decisions across six administrations. Process tracing, comparative historical analysis, and grounded theory development provide the methodological architecture. The dissertation proposes the African Relational Diplomacy Theory, which centres three original concepts: continental obligation primacy, subaltern solidarity bargaining, and domestic ethnic foreign policy mediation. These concepts specify how Nigerian diplomacy navigates the intersection of continental norms, postcolonial solidarity politics, and domestic ethnic constituency pressures. Keywords: African diplomacy theory, Nigerian foreign policy, original theory, continental solidarity, international relations.