Civil Society, Conflict Resolution, and Democracy in Nigeria

Civil Society, Conflict Resolution, and Democracy in Nigeria PDF Author: Darren Kew
Publisher: Syracuse University Press
ISBN: 0815653670
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 450

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Book Description
African nations have watched the recent civic dramas of the Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street asking if they too will see similar civil society actions in their own countries. Nigeria—Africa’s most populous nation—has long enjoyed one of the continent’s most vibrant civil society spheres, which has been instrumental in political change. Initially viewed as contributing to democracy’s development, however, civil society groups have come under increased scrutiny by scholars and policymakers. Do some civil society groups promote democracy more effectively than others? And if so, which ones, and why? By examining the structure, organizational cultures, and methods of more than one hundred Nigerian civil society groups, Kew finds that the groups that best promote democratic development externally are themselves internally democratic. Specifically, the internally democratic civil society groups build more sustainable coalitions to resist authoritarian rule; support and influence political parties more effectively; articulate and promote public interests in a more negotiable fashion; and, most importantly, inculcate democratic norms in their members, which in turn has important democratizing impacts on national political cultures and institutions. Further, internally democratic groups are better able to resolve ethnic differences and ethnic-based tensions than their undemocratically structured peers. This book is a deeply comprehensive account of Nigerian civil society groups in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Kew blends democratic theory with conflict resolution methodologies to argue that the manner in which groups—and states—manage internal conflicts provides an important gauge as to how democratic their political cultures are. The conclusions will allow donors and policymakers to make strategic decisions in their efforts to build a democratic society in Nigeria and other regions.

Civil Society, Conflict Resolution, and Democracy in Nigeria

Civil Society, Conflict Resolution, and Democracy in Nigeria PDF Author: Darren Kew
Publisher: Syracuse University Press
ISBN: 0815653670
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 450

Get Book Here

Book Description
African nations have watched the recent civic dramas of the Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street asking if they too will see similar civil society actions in their own countries. Nigeria—Africa’s most populous nation—has long enjoyed one of the continent’s most vibrant civil society spheres, which has been instrumental in political change. Initially viewed as contributing to democracy’s development, however, civil society groups have come under increased scrutiny by scholars and policymakers. Do some civil society groups promote democracy more effectively than others? And if so, which ones, and why? By examining the structure, organizational cultures, and methods of more than one hundred Nigerian civil society groups, Kew finds that the groups that best promote democratic development externally are themselves internally democratic. Specifically, the internally democratic civil society groups build more sustainable coalitions to resist authoritarian rule; support and influence political parties more effectively; articulate and promote public interests in a more negotiable fashion; and, most importantly, inculcate democratic norms in their members, which in turn has important democratizing impacts on national political cultures and institutions. Further, internally democratic groups are better able to resolve ethnic differences and ethnic-based tensions than their undemocratically structured peers. This book is a deeply comprehensive account of Nigerian civil society groups in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Kew blends democratic theory with conflict resolution methodologies to argue that the manner in which groups—and states—manage internal conflicts provides an important gauge as to how democratic their political cultures are. The conclusions will allow donors and policymakers to make strategic decisions in their efforts to build a democratic society in Nigeria and other regions.

Class, Ethnicity, and Democracy in Nigeria

Class, Ethnicity, and Democracy in Nigeria PDF Author: Larry Diamond
Publisher: Syracuse University Press
ISBN: 9780815624226
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 400

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Book Description
The overthrow in January 1966 of Nigeria’s First Republic erased what had been regarded as perhaps the most promising prospect for liberal democracy in post-colonial Africa. Marking the sweeping failure of parliamentary institutions across a continent of new nations, it accelerated the slide into a ghastly civil war. Class, Ethnicity and Democracy is the first scholarly study to analyze the evolution, decay, and failure of Nigeria’s First Republic and to weigh this crucial experience against theories of the conditions for stable democratic government. Rejecting explanations that focus on political culture, political institutions, or ethnic competition and conflict, Larry Diamond identifies the root of Nigeria’s democratic failure in the interrelationship between class, ethnic and state structures. This led the emergent dominant class in each region to mobilize and exploit ethnicity and to trample the democratic process in furious competition for state control, since that control was the primary means for accumulating wealth and consolidating class dominance. Tracing the polarization of conflict and the erosion of legitimacy through five major crises, Diamond presents a new methodology for analyzing the persistence and failure of democracies and points to the relationship between state and society as a crucial determinant of the possibility for liberal democracy.

Dilemmas of Democracy in Nigeria

Dilemmas of Democracy in Nigeria PDF Author: Paul Beckett
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
ISBN: 9781878822987
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 450

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Book Description
Through essays by 19 leading political analysts of Nigeria, this book offers an innovative, multidisciplinary study of the historical, social, and economic roots of both the effort and failure to create democracy in Nigeria. Two major episodes of transition to democracy (both ultimately unsuccessful) are studied in detail, as are the ingenious provisions of Nigeria's three democratic constitutions. New interpretations of the pattern of regional and ethnic interaction and conflict are developed, as is a fascinating view of the inter-relation between military rule and resurgent religious strife. The outlooks - for democracy, internal peace, and continued national existence - are assessed.

Nigeria

Nigeria PDF Author: Omano Edigheji
Publisher:
ISBN: 9789789800803
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 226

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Book Description
There is a paradoxical relationship between democracy and development in Nigeria. In the twenty years of electoral democracy, poverty, inequality, unemployment, underemployment and insecurity have increased. The hopes of citizens that democracy would lead to improved living standards have been dashed. Social justice and inclusive sustainable development have also been elusive. The economy has remained dependent on 2 primary sectors - agriculture and oil - and low value added services.The aspiration that by 2020, Nigeria would become one of the twenty leading economies in the world has not been achieved, the political elite have captured the state for personal gains and unsurprisingly, Nigeria remains one of the most corrupt countries in the world.

Understanding Modern Nigeria

Understanding Modern Nigeria PDF Author: Toyin Falola
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108837972
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 691

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Book Description
An introduction to the politics and society of post-colonial Nigeria, highlighting the key themes of ethnicity, democracy, and development.

Civil Society and Democracy in Nigeria

Civil Society and Democracy in Nigeria PDF Author: Bernard Nwosu
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000401995
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 236

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Book Description
This book examines the complex relationship between the state and civil society and the impact that this has had on democratization processes in Nigeria from colonial times to the present. Expanding notions of democracy, the author builds a theoretical understanding of civil society to show how it can be both antithetical to and an ally of the state in the struggle for democratization. Combining the neo-Gramscian framework with discursive perspectives from Habermas and Foucault, the book takes a dialectical approach that traces the incarnations of the state and civil society and relates the mutual connections of the two spaces. This book will be of interest to scholars of African politics, democratization and civil society.

Dictators and Democracy in African Development

Dictators and Democracy in African Development PDF Author: A. Carl LeVan
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107081149
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 309

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Book Description
This book argues that the structure of the policy-making process in Nigeria explains variations in government performance better than other commonly cited factors.

Nigerian Bureaucracy in an African Democracy

Nigerian Bureaucracy in an African Democracy PDF Author: Bola Dauda
Publisher: Cambria African Studies
ISBN: 9781604979312
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
This interdisciplinary and comparative study examines the Nigerian political system as a template for a historical and contemporary global comparative review and understanding of democracy-bureaucracy relations.

Democradura

Democradura PDF Author: Nahzeem Oluwafemi Mimiko
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781611632705
Category : Nigeria
Languages : en
Pages : 450

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Book Description
Democradura: Essays On Nigeria's Limited Democracy is a collection of articles penned by Professor Femi Mimiko, mni, over a 30-year period. The broad theme is Nigeria's tortuous attempts at building democracy and laying the basis for nation-building and inclusive development, undertaken over the past 57 years of the country's relative political independence. Taken together, the 164 essays in the book traverse diverse issue-areas, from education, through contestation for power by a notoriously fractious ruling elite, to Nigeria's tentative engagement with the global system. While the narrative is largely conducted within the theoretical rubric of political economy, this is done in an easy-to-comprehend manner, which makes Democradura a compelling addition to the rich corpus of literature on the Nigeria project.

Democracy and Prebendal Politics in Nigeria

Democracy and Prebendal Politics in Nigeria PDF Author: Richard A. Joseph
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107633532
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 251

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Book Description
Originally published in 1987, this book examines the relationship between the pattern of party formation in Nigeria and a mode of social, political and economic behaviour Richard Joseph terms 'prebendalism'. He demonstrates the centrality in the Nigerian polity of the struggle to control and exploit public office and argues that state power is usually viewed by Nigerians as an array of prebends, the appropriation of which provides access to the state treasury and to control over remunerative licenses and contracts. In addition, the abiding desire for a democratic political system is frustrated by the deepening of ethnic, linguistic and regional identities. By exploring the ways in which individuals at all social levels contribute to the maintenance of these practices, the book provides an analysis of the impediments to constitutional democracy that is also relevant to the study of other nations.