Research areas
My PhD research, with King's College London and the Defence Academy of the UK (JSCSC, Shrivenham) was on counter-insurgency operations by the Nigerian Army against Boko Haram. I am interested in the roles of doctrine, culture and historical experience in determining the nature of military operations. I have expanded on that research area to include policing and the Nigeria Police Force, which is the focus of my third book, Policing and Politics in Nigeria, published by Lynne Rienner and available now.
More broadly, I am interested in small war theory and how it explains, or fails to explain, historical and contemporary instances of civil wars and insurgency in Africa since the pre-colonial era. This underpins the compilation of case studies and evidence-based illustrative stories in my fourth book, Rebel, under contract with Oxford University Press.
Other areas of interest include Martial Race theory and ethnic armies, the emergence and roles of the colonial military and police in Nigeria, and Nigerian military history from the colonial era, through the Civil War of Nigeria (1967-1970) to the military interregnum that lasted mostly between 1966 and 1999. The collective themes feature in my fifth book also under contract with Oxford University Press, Picking Sides: Race, Ethnicity and Recruitment in the Colonial Nigerian Army.
Finally, I hope that my research on the Nigerian military is crystallized in a sixth work-in-progress to be pitched as the most comprehensive single volume on Nigeria's tri-services: the Army, Air Force and Navy.
PhD supervision
- Areej Al Khathlan
Selected publications
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Open access
"Framing" contentious activism: a sociological analysis of Boko Haram’s ideology, through its discourse (2008 – 2016)
Omeni, A. & Al Khathlan, A., 1 Mar 2024, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Critical Studies on Terrorism. Latest articles, 23 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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State failure and civil wars: case studies of Nigeria and Somalia
Omeni, A., 4 May 2023, (Accepted/In press) Handbook of African defence and armed forces. Wyss, M. & Kleynhans, E. (eds.). Oxford: Oxford University PressResearch output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed) › peer-review
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Open access
The Cold War and Air Force politics in independent Nigeria (1960-1962)
Omeni, A., 8 May 2023, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Journal of African Military History. Advance Articles, 41 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Written evidence submitted by the Handa Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence (CSTPV) at the University of St Andrews (CTE0009)
Wilson, T. K., Argomaniz, J., Blumenau, B., Lehr, P. & Omeni, A., 14 Sept 2023, UK Parliament. 14 p.Research output: Book/Report › Commissioned report
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Open access
A historical and sociological study of the Nigerian Air Force (1962–1970): politics, ethnicism and army influence
Omeni, A., 17 Nov 2022, In: African Security. 15, 4, p. 340-359 20 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
Beyond African Pride: corruption mechanisms in the Nigerian Navy and maritime sector
Omeni, A., 2 Jun 2022, In: Scientia Militaria: South African Journal of Military Studies. 50, 1, p. 45-64 20 p., 2.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Book review of 'Mobility, mobilization, and counter/insurgency: the routes of terror in an African context' by Daniel E. Agbiboa
Omeni, A., 17 Nov 2022, In: Michigan War Studies Review. 2022, 2 p., 106.Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review
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Open access
Framing injustice: Special Anti-Robbery Squads (SARS) in Nigeria and the #EndSARS’ protest response from a social movement theory perspective
Omeni, A., 13 Dec 2022, In: Modern Africa. 10, 2, p. 9-32 24 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
Lies or half-truths? Boko Haram’s ideology from a social movement theory perspective
Omeni, A., 5 Apr 2022, (E-pub ahead of print) In: African Security Review. 31, 2, p. 174-194 21 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Policing and politics in Nigeria: a comprehensive history
Omeni, A., 1 Feb 2022, Boulder, Colorado: Lynne Rienner Publishers. 323 p.Research output: Book/Report › Book