Compares the experience of Japan 1868-93 with post-colonial Nigeria
1960-85, emphasizing the significance of social and political
prerequisites for national development. Mahmud (political science, U.
of Colorado-Denver) argues that the Meiji leaders had a vision of
national transformation that included national unification, the
abolition of feudalism, land reform, industrialization, and an
indigenous capitalist class. The lack of such a vision in Nigeria, he
says, has led those with political and economic power into waste,
corruption, and the stifling of a local capitalist class. Includes a
glossary of Japanese and Nigerian terms, without pronunciations.
Developed from a 1992 doctoral dissertation for the University of
Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.