Morning in South Africa (A Council on Foreign Relations Book) - Hardcover

John Campbell is the Ralph Bunche Senior Fellow for Africa Policy Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. He entered the U.S. Foreign Service as a political officer in 1975 and served at the American embassy in Pretoria/Cape Town from 1993 to 1996. His books include Nigeria: Dancing on the Brink.

Praise for Nigeria: Dancing on the Brink:
Africa’s most populous nation totters toward the ‘failed state’ abyss in this measured study of Nigeria’s travails. Campbell, the U. S. ambassador to Nigeria from 2004 to 2007, juxtaposes the nation’s great potential—including huge petroleum reserves—with its dire poverty and growing instability. He fingers a litany of dysfunctions: a weak government and rigged elections; a ruling elite of generals and plutocrats who view the state mainly as a dispensary of petroprofits; endemic corruption; bloody sectarian violence between Christians and increasingly radical Muslims; the curse of oil wealth, which encourages Nigeria to neglect industrial development and fuels insurgencies in impoverished oilrich regions. Part history and part memoir, Campbell’s chronicle of Nigeria since the 1960s civil war is fleshed out with firsthand profiles of its leaders and observations on recent political turmoil, along with a shrewd insider’s analysis of Washington’s policy toward the country, which he feels is too aloof. . . . Campbell gives a lucid, perceptive survey of the hardships and perils Nigeria faces. (Publishers Weekly)

Praise for Nigeria: Dancing on the Brink:
Part diplomatic memoir, part layman’s introduction to the country, Campbell’s book provides an excellent snapshot of Nigeria today. Campbell recounts key events in the country during his terms there as an American diplomat, including a spell as U.S. ambassador from 2004 to 2007. On several occasions, Campbell comments on U.S. timidity, notably Washington’s hesitancy to publicly voice its concerns about Nigeria’s deplorable levels of corruption or about the fraud and violence that have marred recent elections. . . . His book is a lively and sometimes highly critical analysis of the country’s political class. (Foreign Affairs)