Online published on 16 June, 2014.
Research on emerging powers from the former Third World has been limited to relatively successful regional powers such as Brazil, India and South Africa. This paper sheds light on Nigeria as a regional power from 1990 to 2003, a time marked by numerous Nigerian security interventions in West Africa. The main finding is that while Nigeria demonstrated its dominance, realised some intervention-specific objectives and mostly kept external powers out of the area, it failed to gain broadbased regional support as it acted unilaterally. The lack of regional backing and the deep mistrust held by Francophone states against Nigeria constitute key differences between the West African giant and the three aforementioned role model regional powers.
