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Expert Bio
Ebenezer Obadare is Douglas Dillon senior fellow for Africa studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). Before joining CFR, he was professor of sociology at the University of Kansas, Lawrence. He is also a senior fellow at the New York University School of Professional Studies Center for Global Affairs, as well as a fellow at the University of South Africa’s Institute of Theology. His most recently published book, from the University of Notre Dame Press, is titled Pastoral Power, Clerical State: Pentecostalism, Gender, and Sexuality in Nigeria.
Obadare was Ralf Dahrendorf Scholar and Ford Foundation International Scholar at the London School of Economics and Political Science where he completed his PhD in social policy in 2005. He holds a BA in history and an MSc in international relations from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria.
Obadare was a political reporter for The News and TEMPO magazines from 1993 to 1995, and a lecturer in international relations at the Obafemi Awolowo University from 1995 to 2001. His primary areas of interest are civil society and the state, and religion and politics in Africa.
He is the author and editor of numerous books, including Christianity, Sexuality and Citizenship in Africa (2019), Pentecostal Republic: Religion and the Struggle for State Power in Nigeria (2018), Governance and the Crisis of Rule in Contemporary Africa: Leadership in Transformation (2016), Humor, Silence, and Civil Society in Nigeria (2016), The Handbook of Civil Society in Africa (2014), Civic Agency in Africa: Arts of Resistance in the 21st Century (2014), Democracy and Prebendalism in Nigeria: Critical Interpretations (2013), and Nigeria at Fifty: The Nation in Narration (2011).
Obadare’s essays have appeared in the leading Africanist and disciplinary journals, including the Review of African Political Economy (ROAPE), African Affairs, Politique Africaine, Journal of Civil Society, Democratization, Patterns of Prejudice, Africa Development, Africa, Critical African Studies, Development in Practice, Journal of Modern African Studies, Journal of Contemporary African Studies, Interkulturelle Theologie, and Journal of Church and State.
He is the editor of Journal of Modern African Studies and contributing editor of Current History.
Affiliations:
- Center for Democracy and Development, (Abuja, Nigeria), Journal of West African Affairs, Democracy and Development, editor
- Journal of Modern African Studies, Cambridge University Press, UK, editor
- New York University, Center for Global Affairs, fellow
- Nigerian Tribune Newspapers (Ibadan, Nigeria), editor at large
- University of South Africa, Research Institute for Theology and Religion, fellow
Current Projects
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Peter Obi may have lost the Nigerian presidential election, but he and the movement he leads may yet win the political war.
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The Igbo political elite faces the challenge of transforming an unimpeachable moral argument into a winning political coalition.
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Desperate to will a preferred candidate to victory, Western journalists fell into a tunnel vision on Nigerian politics.
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The international community must help Nigeria make the best of an imperfect situation.
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Voters in Africa’s most populous country and largest economy cast ballots for a new leader in the Feb. 25 Nigerian general elections. Here are answers to some essential questions about the vote:
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A poorly thought out and poorly timed monetary policy sends Nigeria into a tailspin.
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How do Africa’s many “leaders for life” do it?
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Pope Francis’ diagnosis of the causes of African underdevelopment is simplistic, condescending, and ahistorical.
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Censorship and Freedom of Expression
When it comes to civil liberties in Africa, Western governments and institutions must put their monies where their mouths are. -
For Nigerian women, gender equality remains a bridge too far as increased social influence fails to translate into political power.
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Whether he wins the presidency or not, Peter Obi has already changed the course of Nigerian politics for good.
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For Nigeria’s serial presidential candidate, familiarity is both strength and disadvantage.
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At a moment of deep generational fracture, the political opposition would seem to be the least of Bola Tinubu’s problems.
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Fatal shooting of Lagos lawyer by police refreshes clamor for law enforcement reform in Nigeria.
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African aspirations, not African leaders, should be the focus of the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit.
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When conventional tools of resistance have failed or been compromised, humor has been a weapon of last resort for the African subaltern.
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A looming crisis of succession in several African countries indicates a troubling persistence of ego-driven political paternalism.
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World leaders should rebuff Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari’s attempt at moral intimidation.
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Much more than material support for the democratic process, Africa—and the developing world—needs the United States to reaffirm its commitment to democratic principles.
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Nigerians hold their breath as Western nations’ terror alerts deepen apprehension about the country’s immediate prospects.
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Nigerian universities urgently need a reboot; whether ASUU should be part of that process is an open question.
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Diamonstein-Spielvogel Project on the Future of Democracy
Peter Obi’s ascendance appears to have ripped up the Igbo self-determination playbook. -
The latest military coup d’état would seem to be the least of Burkina Faso’s problems.
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The nascent elite consensus around state police is an important milestone on the path to true federalism.