This book is a comprehensive appraisal of the political history of Nigeria since colonisation, with emphasis on political parties. The author argues that party coalitions in Nigeria can be explained by the factors of heterogeneity as well as the political systems the country has experimented with. He asserts the influence of the institution of the presidency in the current trend towards a two-party system.
In 2015, Nigeria's voters cast out the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP). Here, A. Carl LeVan traces the political vulnerability of Africa's largest party in the face of elite bargains that facilitated a democratic transition in 1999. These 'pacts' enabled electoral competition but ultimately undermined the party's coherence. LeVan also crucially examines the four critical barriers to Nigeria's democratic consolidation: the terrorism of Boko Haram in the northeast, threats of Igbo secession in the southeast, lingering ethnic resentments and rebellions in the Niger Delta, and farmer-pastoralist conflicts. While the PDP unsuccessfully stoked fears about the opposition's ability to stop Boko Haram's terrorism, the opposition built a winning electoral coalition on economic growth, anti-corruption, and electoral integrity. Drawing on extensive interviews with a number of politicians and generals and civilians and voters, he argues that electoral accountability is essential but insufficient for resolving the representational, distributional, and cultural components of these challenges.
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.
This volume engages in an in-depth discussion of Nigerian politics. Written by an expert group of Nigerian researchers, the chapters provide an overarching, Afrocentric view of politics in Nigeria, from pre-colonial history to the current federal system. The book begins with a series of historical chapters analyzing the development of Nigeria from its traditional political institutions through the First Republic. After establishing the necessary historical context, the next few chapters shift the focus to specific political institutions and phenomena, including the National Assembly, local government and governance, party politics, and federalism. The remaining chapters discuss issues that continue to affect Nigerian politics: the debt crisis, oil politics in the Niger Delta, military intervention and civil-military relations, as well as nationalism and inter-group relations. Providing an overview of Nigerian politics that encompasses history, economics, and public administration, this volume will be useful to students and researchers interested in African politics, African studies, democracy, development, history, and legislative studies.
Nigeria is Africa's most populous country and the world's eighth largest oil producer, but its success has been undermined in recent decades by ethnic and religious conflict, political instability, rampant official corruption and an ailing economy. Toyin Falola, a leading historian intimately acquainted with the region, and Matthew Heaton, who has worked extensively on African science and culture, combine their expertise to explain the context to Nigeria's recent troubles through an exploration of its pre-colonial and colonial past, and its journey from independence to statehood. By examining key themes such as colonialism, religion, slavery, nationalism and the economy, the authors show how Nigeria's history has been swayed by the vicissitudes of the world around it, and how Nigerians have adapted to meet these challenges. This book offers a unique portrayal of a resilient people living in a country with immense, but unrealized, potential.
This book argues that the structure of the policy-making process in Nigeria explains variations in government performance better than other commonly cited factors.
Africa is changing and it is easy to overlook how decentralization, democratization, and new forms of illiberalism have transformed federalism, political parties, and local politics. Chapters on Kenya, Nigeria, Ethiopia, and South Africa help fill an important gap in comparative institutional research about state and local politics in Africa.
Elections have been central to regime collapse in Nigeria because they neither passed the test of citizens' acceptability nor electoral neutrality. They always pushed the country to a dangerous brink which she has often survived after serious constitutional and political bruises. The general election of 1964 rocked the delicate balance of the country resulting in the military coup of January 15, 1966 and a thirty month civil war. The subsequent effort of the military at restructuring the country did not go far enough to win the civic confidence of the people. The military availed itself of another opportunity of tinkering with the system in 1993. However, it demonstrated that it was not immune to civic dishonesty when it annulled the widely acclaimed free and fair presidential election in June 12, 1993. By fits and starts, Nigeria held another election in 1999 which was tolerated only because of citizens' fatigue of military rule. The elections of 2003 and 2007 were classic examples of make-belief democracy. The feeding of inequity and, if you will, domination, persisted. A combination of fortune, trickery and arm twisting produced a power shift in favour of Dr. Goodluck Ebele Azikwe Jonathan in April 2011. The subsequent attempt by the north to create a strategic consensus did not save it from being pushed into fringe politics forcing some of its spokespersons to vow that they will make governance impossible. The election was better than the worst but much still remains to be done.
