Bennington Appoints Top Nigerian Democracy Expert

Considered by some to be Nigeria’s top political scientist, federalism expert Rotimi Suberu will join Bennington College’s growing and distinguished international relations faculty this fall.

“He is one of the most brilliant, creative, articulate, and energetic younger political scientists in Africa today,” said Larry Diamond, Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institute and co-editor of Journal of Democracy. “Suberu stands out for his ability to take the theories and concepts of comparative politics and apply them to the circumstances of Nigeria.”

Suberu is the most recent addition to an already formidable international relations faculty that includes former Iranian United Nations ambassador Mansour Farhang; South Africa’s well-known ANC revolutionary and former Mandela cabinet member, Mac Maharaj; and global political economy expert Geoffrey Pigman.

“Dr. Suberu is without question one of the best-published, most influential, and internationally respected political scientists in Nigeria today,” President Elizabeth Coleman said. “Over the past decade and a half, he has accumulated a prolific record of consistently outstanding and original publications that few political scientists on the African continent can match. We look forward to his work at Bennington. ”

A faculty member at Nigeria’s University of Ibadan since 1986, Suberu has garnered numerous fellowships and visiting positions from many institutions, including the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Northwestern University, and the University of Pennsylvania. Suberu has held two fellowships (1993–94 and 2006–2007) from the United States Institute of Peace, an independent, nonpartisan, national institution established and funded by Congress, dedicated to preventing and resolving violent international conflicts and promoting post-conflict stability. While at USIP in 2007, Suberu compiled a project report on the role of Nigerian Supreme Court in managing state-federal conflicts. In addition to his role in the academic field of political science, Suberu has also served as a consultant to the Nigerian government and the EU delegation to Abuja and Washington D.C.’s National Democratic Institute and National Endowment for Democracy.

Rotimi Suberu is the author of several books; including Federalism and Ethnic Conflict in Nigeria (USIP Press, 2001) widely considered the definitive contemporary book on the historical travails of Nigerian federalism, Ethnic Minority Conflicts and Governance in Nigeria (Spectrum Books, 1999), and The Nigerian Civil War and its Aftermath (John Archers, 2002).