ABSTRACT
This study was undertaken to evaluate political
participation and democratic consolidation in Nigeria with a particular
reference to Enugu State. Three objectives and three research questions were
formulated to guide the research. The study adopted thematic format in its
literature review. The theoretical framework used was structural functionalism
and research design used in the study was expos facto design and content
analysis was used to evaluate the topic under discussion in line with each
objectives. After the analysis the study was able to discover among other
things that, the engagement of citizens in public affairs is the benchmark of
the liberal democratic system. The availability of participation opportunities
and the concomitant enabling process and institutional pre-requisites, allied
with positive political orientations to the political system, make it possible
for citizens to choose their leaders at elections and also influence the public
policy process, and ultimately, the longevity of the democratic system of
government. Based on the above findings, the study recommends among other
things that, strong political mobilization can help in debasing the overall
strategic framework of Primitive Accumulation of Votes (PAV) otherwise known as
rigging.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1
The
Background of the Study
Democracy is a bargain between the
government and the governed. This bargain is made up of two parts – the
government’s legitimacy that is, claim of obedience to its laws as well as
doing what the citizens want it to do. The second part is the arrangement that
regulates this bargain of legitimacy in the competitive political election. The
essence of the bargain is to ensure participation in policy making. This
participation is the fundamental meaning of democracy. Democracy and political
participation are two concepts that are interwoven; none can exist in the
absence of the other. The process of establishing a democratic system requires
the full participation of the people. This participation may be direct or
indirect and must be by the citizens. Participation refers to the different
ways in which the public express opinions and ideally exert influence on
political, economic, management and other social decisions. For a well-informed
participation to occur, a radical transparency though not sufficient, is necessary.
It is argued that people most affected by a decision should have the most say
while those less affected should have less say. Participation has its
objectives from the administrative perspective, to motivate the people and
public support building activities. For the citizens, it facilitates useful
information exchange regarding local conditions. It enables individuals and
groups to influence agency decision in a representative manner etc. Political
participation is that activity that has the intent or effect of influencing
government action.
It is that aspect of democracy that
deals with the political environment. Davies (1963) cited in Unanka (2004:20),
defined political participation as “taking part in making the basic decision as
to what are the common goals of one’s society and as to the best ways to move
towards these goals”. Political participation expresses actions, reactions,
interactions and role expectation as one finds oneself as an integral member of
a society. It is a known fact that without significant citizen’s involvement,
the democratic process falls short of its goals. According to Ogunna (2003:24),
political participation can be active, partial or passive.
Democracy, the actualized popular power
through political structures that are based on mass participation and political
sovereignty, is described by Powell, a well- known American political
scientist, as quoted in Cayne (1993:777) as “an implicit bargain between the
representative government and the citizens and a specific arrangement which
regulates that bargain”. He further stated that a true democracy is that system
of government that is controlled by the people through their representatives. True
democracy is universally accepted as a system of government that believes in
and operates on the principle of law and order, with them as the ultimate
repository and regulator of the social norms and practice.
To the authoritarians and other
critics, a common misapprehension is that democracies lack the power to oppress
and also lacks the authority to govern. Indeed, democracy is unthinkable in the
absence of viable political parties. Parties are expected to participate in the
political socialization of electorates, contribute to the accumulation of
political power, facilitate recruitment of political leadership, and serve as a
unifying force in a divided polity (Omotola, 2010:125). The objectives which party regulation seeks
to achieve, including the lingering question of internal party democracy,
namely the push and pull of struggles to get political parties to respect their
own rules and act in line with democratic principles in the conduct of their
internal affairs, all remains central to the wider consolidation of democracy
in Nigeria (Ibeanu, 2013: 1).
Anchoring on platforms offered by
political parties, citizens make demands on the state, support specific policy
positions, and participate in public policy making and implementation.
Political parties therefore provide the vital linkage between citizens and the
state, governors and the governed, and elites and the masses (Lawson
1980). The nature, behavior and
performance of political parties and the nature of party relations with other
parties, groups, and even the state have consequences for the nature of
governance, integration, stability and security (Ikelegbe, 2013:7).
The character and tendencies exhibited
by political parties has implications for democratic sustenance in the country
(Pogoson, 2013: 5). The political party is a critical, formal, institutional,
organizational and mobilizational player in the political process particularly
in relation to power, democracy, governance, governments and economy (Ikelegbe,
2013:4). The nature of political parties and the nature of party politics have
consequences for the nature of governance (democratic consolidation),
integration, stability and security. The performance of political parties in
terms of articulation, aggregation, representation and organization are
critical to political accountability, communication, democratic consolidation
and political stability (Ikelegbe, 2013:4).
1.2 Statement of Problem
Mainstream rhetoric in Nigeria media
and popular discourses of the polity is often centred on the claim that Nigeria
is “consolidating its democracy”. The evidence on the ground, however,
contradicts this claim (Momoh, 2013:1). It is perhaps most appropriate to liken
the relationship between political participation and the sustenance of
democratic rule in a particular society to that which exists between the
umbilical cord and the fetus (Yagboyaju, 2012:54). Political participation
through political parties are at the heart of examining the health of any form
of democracy (Orji, 2013:1), for example, maintains that ‘to talk, today, about
democracy, is to talk about a system of competitive political parties. Their roles and activities are critical in
any assessment of democratic practice (Momoh, 2013:1). With the transition to
civil rule in 1999 (Signalling the commencement of the fourth republic),
political parties had the mandate to produce the right calibre of people to
govern (Momoh, 2013:1). One of the most complex and critical institutions of
democracy is the level of political participation through political party (ies)
(Omotola 2009).
Political parties are traditionally the
most significant intermediary organization in democratic societies. Students of
political science have commonly associated them with democracy itself (Orji,
2013:1). Political parties, as “makers” of democracy, have been so romanticized
that scholars claim that neither democracy nor democratic societies are
thinkable without them (Omotola 2009). In other words, the existence of vibrant
political parties is a sine qua non for democratic consolidation in any polity
(Dode, 2010). It is patently ironic that political parties largely pursue (and
profess) democracy outside the gates and resist it within the gates (Ibeanu,
2013:1). Competitive party and electoral politics is expected to deepen and
consolidate the democratic transition, which the country embarked upon in May
1999 (Jinadu, 2013:2). Well- functioning political parties are essential for
the success of electoral democracy and overall political development of Nigeria
(Adetula and Adeyi, 2013:3).
1.3 Objective of the study
The general objective of this study is
to evaluate the Nigerian democracy in the context of political participation
especially in Enugu State while the specific objectives are:
1. To find out the extent to which Political
Participation has enhance political recruitment in Enugu state.
2. To evaluate political mobilization as
a major attribute to effective democratic culture.
3. To examine the role of civil
societies and democratic governance in Nigeria
1.4 Research questions
1. Does Political Participation enhance
political recruitment in Enugu State?
2. Does political mobilization enhance
effective democratic culture in Enugu?
3. Did civil societies engender democratic
governance Enugu State?
1.5 Significance of the Problem
This involves both the empirically and
the theoretical significance. Empirically, the result of this work on
completion will help to address the problem of democracy and political
participation in Nigeria. And it will enable the federal government and state
government to see how to blend representative democracy and active
participation in political activities in Nigeria by allowing them to get
involve in political activities without fear intimidation for national
development. Hence the need for this study or the problem this work intends to
solve is to provide means to increase reasonable political participation in
Nigeria polity that is enough to justify our democratic practice and to improve
the quality of the polity. In doing this an attempt will be made to expose some
of the phenomena responsible of strong political apathy in Nigerian polity like
violence, corruption, godfatherism and electoral malpractice etc.
1.6 Scope and limitation of the
study
The research is actually prepared to
analyze critically and profound a solution to the problem of democracy and
political participation in Enugu state, between 1999 and 2016. However, in area
of operation, the Nigeria state is the area of grand framework of analysis
which Enugu State remains the point of emphasis of the study.
1.7 Research Hypotheses:
To
further guide the study, the following hypotheses were put forward for investigation:
1. Political Participation has enhanced
political recruitment in Enugu State.
2. Political mobilization has enhanced
effective democratic culture in Nigeria.
3. Civil society has not engendered
democratic governance in Nigeria.
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