Democratic theories and the problem of political participation in Nigeria: Strengthening consensus and the rule of law

• Authors: Philip Ujomu , Felix Olatunji
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

This paper addresses the problem of the strategies and theories of democratic participation in Nigeria that breed institutional marginality and bad governance due to shortfalls in pursuing the values of justice and empowerment as core democratic characteristics. The same democratic principles such as voting, parliament, constitution, judiciary, that are suggestive of gains such as responsible use, and peaceful transfer of power may not have translated fully into sociopolitical empowerment for responsibility and representation in evolving democratic practice in Nigeria due to problems of agency and political ideology. Democratic theorizing and participation in Nigeria has defied orthodox presuppositions seen in the disrespect for basic rights and the disregard for the rule of law in democracy that allow for fair play within and among the elites and political grassroots. Thus this study investigates the Nigerian predicament as a model or case study, raising questions about the reasons for the systematic disempowerment of groups.

Keywords

EN

democracy; theory; participation; consensus; rule of law; Nigeria

• Publisher: Sciendo
• Journal: Human Affairs
• Year: 2014
• Volume: 24
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 120-135

Dates

published

2014-01-01

online

2013-12-27

Contributors

author

Philip Ujomu

• University of Benin

author

Felix Olatunji

• University of Benin

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Identifiers

DOI

10.2478/s13374-014-0211-3