IngentaConnect Violence as Threats to Democracy in Nigeria under the Fourth Repu...

Authors: Aremu, Fatai Ayinde¹; Omotola, J. Shola²

Source: African and Asian Studies, Volume 6, Numbers 1-2, 2007 , pp. 53-79(27)

Publisher: BRILL

Abstract:

This article examines what it calls violence against democracy in Nigeria, epitomized by the perversion and gross inefficiency of democratic structures, institutions and processes by those saddled with the responsibility of nurturing them. It identifies the sources of the violence to be both internal and external, the former including the state, the constitution, political party, civil society, mass media and public bureaucracy; and the latter basically the so-called New World Order and its 'anarchic' globalization. The paper also examines the forms and character of the violence, which manifest largely in form of the criminalization and privatization of the state and its apparatus of governance. This may not be unconnected to the weak institutionalization of democratic structures and political culture, which was further exacerbated by prolonged military dictatorship with their attendant culture of violence. The major recommendation of the paper is for a continuous process of social mobilization and political reengineering at all levels of governance within the context of a reformist and developmental state.

Keywords: DEMOCRACY; VIOLENCE; PRESIDENTIAL MONARCHISM; PSEUDO-DEMOCRATS; PRIVATIZED STATE; CONSTITUTION; POLITICAL PARTY; MASS MEDIA; CIVIL SOCIETY; POWER ELITE; NEW WORLD ORDER; FOURTH REPUBLIC; NIGERIA

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1163/156921007X180587

Affiliations: 1: Graduate School of Asia Pacific Studies, Ritsumeikan, Asia Pacific University, Beppu-shi, Oita-ken, Japan; Department of Political Science, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria 2: Department of Political Science, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria

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Violence as Threats to Democracy in Nigeria under the Fourth Republic, 1999-2005