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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
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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.
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The alliance between Peter Obi and the Labour Party in Nigeria disguises a fundamental conflict in their political and economic outlook.
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Public employee wages have become a blunt political instrument in the hands of many African governments.
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The aftershock of the collapse of the Soviet empire reverberated from Cape Town to Cairo.
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The Nigerian government and university professors stare each other down as the fate of the country’s tertiary education hangs in the balance.
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More than a generous immigration policy, Africa desperately needs help holding on to its precious human capital.
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The country’s bloated debt portfolio is the outcome of decades-long economic mismanagement.
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African leaders must hold the United States to its vow, even as they put their own house in order.
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Nigeria is staring down the barrel of financial bankruptcy.
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The proverbial “Third Force” in Nigerian politics is finally making itself heard, but its chances of causing an upset are slim.
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Support for immigration in the West must be balanced with concern about governance in African countries.
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Presidential candidate faces a dilemma as religious factor threatens to undo campaign.
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Nigeria’s two major political parties have now picked their presidential candidates, but commotion across the country casts a shadow over the politics.
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The outcome of party presidential primaries appears to signal the end of post-military elite political consensus.
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Horrendous killing of college sophomore highlights the country’s ethnoreligious fault line, but interdenominational rivalry in the south is of no less moment.