One example is, the united states of america is the oldest democracy in the world. Military rule in nigeria first started on january 15, 1966, when a group or army officers overthrew the npcnndp government and killed many of the countrys political rulers. It is government of a community in which all citizens, rather than favored individuals or groups, have the right and opportunity to participate. We must ensure that enough checks and balances exist in this system to protect everyone instead of an elite class that can control everything.
The jumbo pay for the executive and the legislature in nigeria has dwarfed the benefits of democracy. Political elite composition and democracy in nigeria bentham open. While it remains true that nigeria is governed by democratically elected leaders at the federal and state levels, nigeria is yet to institutionalise democracy after a century of existence as a political entity. The military history of nigeria since the colonial rule began precisely on the 1 st october 1966.
Merits and demerits of 1999 constitution merits the heads of the executive at all levels are popularly elected local government chairmen, state governors and the president. According to them, socialist democracy is democracy in the right sense of the term because the welfare of the labour class and farming community can be safeguarded properly only under socialist democracy. Disadvantages of democracy 8 merits and demerits with examples. The paper adopted content analysis approach to source its data and concluded that democracy is an ingredient of development. History of democracy in nigeria and when did nigeria. What are the merits and demerits of the 1999 constitution. It has since been translated into at least thirtyone other languages and has been published in serbia, indonesia, and thailand, among other countries. Merits of constitutional democracy demerits of constitutional democracy the key concepts of constitutional democracy. But we are at a crossroads, and if we continue with this charade, a nigerlike scenario of. Yet capitalism, used in singular form, conceals the differences in the varieties of capitalism hall and soskice 2001. Democracy, good governance, corruption, human rights, electoral reform. It is also the worlds eighth largest producer of crude oil and has been the united states second largest supplier for six.
Democracy and the performance of the nigerian economy aminu umaru lecturer. History of political parties in nigeria information. Political elite, elite circulation, democracy, nigeria. Olu awofeso, phd department of political science,obafemi awolowo university, ileife, nigeria abstract. Nigerias present democratization, which culminated in the countrys fourth republic on may 29, 1999, started amidst great hope and expectations. Constitutional development in nigeria from 1914 till date. The country was at its infantile stage and was still trying to adapt to. While evidence of this relationships existence is irrefutable, economists and historians opinions of its exact nature have been sharply split, hence the latter has been the subject of many debates and studies. In a parliamentary for a government there is close harmony and cooperation between the executive a legislature. Consolidation of democracy and good governance in nigeria. Democracies give people a chance to become personally involved with their government.
Threats and challenges to nigerias nascent democracy terry andrews odisu seminar paper politics. Demo people and kratia government types of democracy. The following are the demerits or disadvantages of democracy. Until june 6, 2018, it was held annually on may 29. Demos means crowd and kratia or cratos means power. Democracy day marks the day the military handed over power to an elected civilian government in 1999, marking the beginning of the longest continuous civilian rule since nigerias independence from colonial rule in 1960. This is why the critics of democracy have described it as mobocracy. It is argued that democracy cannot engender good governance in a state where it is yet to.
Regime character, electoral crisis, and prospects of electoral reform in nigeria adekunle animashaun. Conflicttriggered by political competition and communal, ethnic, religious or resource allocation rivalriesposes a major threat to democracy. Nowadays such model of the ruling is applied in the majority of the countries of the world, including nigeria. The paper concludes that for democracy to achieve its goals there is the need for the government. Thomas chukwuma ijere democracy and development in nigeria.
Military rule in nigeria comes with a lot of disadvantage that. Because the government in a democracy is under the control of the people and their voice, then it is up to each individual to decide their fate. Get an answer for what are the advantages and disadvantages of capitalist democracy. It identified the problems that have militated against nigerias democratic sustainability in the past to include lack of proper democratic institutions. Chapter 1 representative democracy in nigeria introduction democracy is the form of government, in which the people of a country, state or local government area decide how they want to be governed. The paper discusses some of the impediments to the institutionalisation of democracy in nigeria after more. Download fulltext pdf download fulltext pdf the impact of military rule on democracy in nigeria article pdf available december 2012 with 51,005 reads. The whole thing started from the year1999, when olusegun obasanjo was sworn in as the first democratically elected president of nigeria. Essay on democracy its merits and demerits free to read. What are the advantages and disadvantages of democracy. Forget all those talks of it been the most disciplined and they provided the infrastructures we enjoy today. Below are the demerits disadvantages of military rule in nigeria it had been ascertained that there were few advantages attributed to military rule in nigeria. More than half of the worlds population now live in a democracy of some sort, although only some per cent of that population reside in full democracies eiu, 2010.
Merits and demerits of dictatorship essay 706 words cram. It must therefore be sustained to evolve and ensure sustainable development. In simple terms, the objective of the paper is to identify and discuss the challenges to democracy and good governance in the country and proffer suggestions for a better democratic nigeria. Democracy, political participation and good governance in. We reiterate that democracy and development cohabit and inactivity of the former destroys the later. Democracy day is june 12, a national public bank holiday in nigeria. An appraisal of the peoples democratic party pdp sixteen years 2 international journal of research in humanities and social studies v2 i9 september 2015 democracy in the literature is contested and for political science the theorization of the concept of.
Here, the people elect their leaders for a specified term. Democracy and economic growth and development have had a strong correlative and interactive relationship throughout history. Democracy is government of, by, and for the people. Introduction nigeria and nigerians have been caught in the frenzy of centenary celebration. The above points do not mean communism or monarchy are better, but the freedom given by democracy should not be vested to safeguard from selfmisbehavior. There are roadblocks to a strong democracy in nigeria at all levels of government. Democracy in nigeria is being starved of the basic tools for survival. This paper examined democracy and its adoption in nigeria. In a democratic system of government, a political party is an organization that subscribes to a certain ideology and seeks to attain political power through representation in government. People can choose their leader irrespective of caste, creed, sex and even race. This paper is a contribution to the debate on democratization and development in nigeria. Idris ahmed jamo department of public administration, ahmadu bello university zaria abstract nigeria is the fourth world largest democracy with a population of over 160 million and world sixth largest oil supplier and blessed with economic potentials, but majority of the nigerian. Nation of the world have different system of government that is being practiced which ranges from monarchy, aristocracy, democracy just to mention in few, but history will never be completely written if the system of government was not included in the history of the nation. Members of the government try to participate in social activities, to be closer to people and to win their sympathy.
The reason for this is that common man is neither wise nor intelligent nor rational but democracy believes in these things. Merits and demerits of democracy merits of democracy. A study of some selected local government areas in ondo state, nigeria. With the introduction of democracy, the public became more educated in political, economic, and social matters. Pdf the impact of military rule on democracy in nigeria.
Nigeria is unarguably one of the most influential countries in africa. It was the dawn of the fourth republic, a return to. Since 1999 when civil politics was restored to nigeria, discourse on the appropriate electoral system for the country has been put firmly on the national democratic agenda. Introduction in the last half a century, many countries have transited to democracy.
Nigerias democratic setbacks may not yet entitle us to reject democracy altogether or to be receptive to military rule. They were voicing their disillusionment with a failed democracy. The fifth section will focus on the roles of civil society in the process of consolidation which will entail an analysis of their weaknesses and strengths while the final. In doing these as well as in their daytoday life, the. Since then, the nature of the democratic project has been the subject of debate in various circles. Consequently, communists dont accept it democracy at all. Nevertheless, the democracy story in nigeria can be traced to the year 1960. As previously stated, the citizens in a democratic country are given the right to vote on political, social and economical issues, particularly the representatives they want to be in charge of making major decisions, such as the president. Furthermore, it comes with many benefits good governance, rule of law, political stability, and economic advancement. The english word democracy is derived from two greek words demos and kratia or cratos. This paper investigates the impact of democratic dispensation on the performance of the nigerian economy between 1983 and 2012. The nascent democracy in nigeria is plagued with myriad of intrigues, discordant. Introduction may 29, 1999 marked a watershed in nigerias political annals. In 1215, english nobles pressured king john of england to sign a document known as the magna carta, a key step on the road to constitutional democracy.
Even economically backward persons like abraham lincoln could become the president of the united states, women like margaret thatcher prime minister of the uk, etc. Disadvantages of military rule in nigeria nigerian infopedia. By doing so, the king acknowledged he was bound by law, like others, and granted his subjects legal rights. It is debatable whether the minimum content is really applicable to a democratic nigeria. The constitution effectively puts in place separation of powers and. There is the dearth of vertical and horizontal compositions of unified interests in terms of. From dictatorship to democracy was originally published in bangkok in 1993 by the committee for the restoration of democracy in burma in association with khit pyaing the new era journal. Threats and challenges to nigerias nascent democracy grin. Government aims and objectives this syllabus aims at assessing the candidates ability to a define the concepts of government and show their understanding of its principles, institutions and processes.
The study was born out of the numerous debacles encountered by nigeria and nigerians in the process of achieving democracy. Some of the issues that will be discussed in this article are the concept of rule of law, democracy and development, shortcomings of democracy and development in nigeria. What are the advantages and disadvantages of capitalist. The paper divide the period into two military and democracy i. On october 1 nigeria added to its list of vital statistics a new status as the worlds fourth largest democracy.
This is a system of government whereby everyone is involved in the affairs of the country. The study adopted both qualitative and quantitative means of data collection. Abstract this paper examined the extent to which the citizens are involved in political activities. But there was certainly no debate about its doomed fate in the years of military dictatorship. A political party is to democracy just as fish is to water. Comparison between presidential and parliamentary form of government what are the features of parliamentary and presidential forms of government. An analysis grace malachi brown, phd department of history and diplomatic studies faculty of humanities rivers state university of education pmb 5047, rumuolumeni port harcourt, rivers state nigeria. May 29 th of every year is declared democracy day in nigeria, and it also a public holiday. Democracy and the performance of the nigerian economy.
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