The Rise and fall of the South Coastal Economy of Tai Local Government Area: A Political Economy Perspective

ABSTRACT: The majority of the Nigerian population either live in or depend substantially on the economies ofrural communities for their livelihood. Yet, these communities are often neglected. This neglect has led topoverty and underdevelopment, which combined with other factors to ignite various dimensions of socialconflict, including intra-community and communal wars, insurgency and terrorism. This paper launches anexcursion into the history of a cluster of local communities in the southern part of Tai Local Government Area(LGA) in Rivers State, Nigeria and their neighbours in other LGAs with the aim of explaining their rise,prosperity and eventual fall. Our study utilizes the political economy approach to investigate theinterconnectedness of social psychology, politics, and economics in the analysis of the metaphysics of historicalcausation. It reveals that in the past, traditional authorities and institutions in the communities were strong, thecore values and norms of society were humanistic and promoted the idea of society as a social contract. Thefaltering of those institutions, a twisted ethical framework and the erosion of humanistic values, coupled withpoor State intervention measures altered the hitherto communitarian relations that existed within and amongcommunities and led to conflicts and underdevelopment.

Keywords: Local Economy, Political Economy, Social Conflict, Economic Growth.