Terrorism and State Failure: The Nigerian State and Politics of National Security

Abstract: Experiments on Nigerian politics and restructuring of the state have not yielded the expected outcomes. Persistent instability, based on the character of politics, has threatened national security. State-terrorism and insurgencies have pervaded the Nigerian politics, and the political economy of insecurity is bizarre with acts of violence conducted and perpetrated by the state against citizens for economic and political goals. Motivated by immoral commitment, polluted with blind partisan politics and constrained by incapacity with as much aversion to violence, state-actors fail and betray the trust reposed in them. Whereas politicians are generally distrustful, contemptuous, deceitful, and destructive, their cynicisms about people's wellbeing and feelings are rooted in their perceptions of and self-interests in governance. The rupture, disillusionment of people's expectations gradually spark-off terrorism and lit-up national insecurity. This nebulosity of insecurity was aggregated by indistinguishable display of character, contemptuous minds of state-actors, and leadership abdication of line of duties/responsibilities in the face of national catastrophe. The study examines the implications of terrorism and identifies how state failures and involvement in the so-called counter-terrorism violate and erode national security; endangered via the internationalization of violence and installed ideological interests. This explores how people's participation in politics and solid electoral support have jeopardized their wellbeing and produced bad governance, fatigued leadership, and weakened institutions. The overwhelming political mistrust in, and lack of trustworthiness on political drivers have undermined the institutional capacity to deliver services. Theoretical and methodological approaches adopt state and political economy theories to underpin the character of terrorism and insecurity. The state of poverty, monstrous politics, and repression in Nigeria are a product of anti-state movements championed by politicians. Keywords: Terrorism, State-Failure, Politics, National-Security, Nigerian-State. Title: Terrorism and State Failure: The Nigerian State and Politics of National Security Author: Isah Mohammed Abbass International Journal of Social Science and Humanities Research ISSN 2348-3156 (Print), ISSN 2348-3164 (online) Vol. 13, Issue 2, April 2025 - June 2025 Page No: 336-348 Research Publish Journals Website: www.researchpublish.com Published Date: 26-May-2025 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15515915 Paper Download Link (Source) https://www.researchpublish.com/papers/terrorism-and-state-failure-the-nigerian-state-and-politics-of-national-security