Consociationalism and the Nigerian political system, 1960-1988. (Volumes I and II).

摘要

This study examines the applicability of Arend Lijphart's principles of consociationalism to the Nigerian political environment. The operational utility of these principles namely: grand coalition, proportionality, segmental autonomy, and mutual veto to plural societies is generally presented as a challenge as well as an alternative process of political disposition capable of stabilizing the fragility of social formations in plural societies relative to the majoritarian democracy of the British model.;The institutionalization of parliamentary democracy in Nigeria particularly during it's early formative years marginalized not only the reality of it's ethnic pluralism but also ignored the necessity to experiment with consociational democracy as a political process.;The evolution or development of the Nigerian state as a historic phenomenon has provided an important heuristic explanation for the country's political instability and the operational failure of it's system of majoritarian democracy during the First Republic.;Paradoxically, military intervention in the Nigerian body politic has served as a catalyst for some of the institutional changes that had taken place particularly during the Second Republic. However, the frequency of it's involvement in politics has continued to undermine the developmental process of democratic values and it's own professional obligations.;We examine Nigeria's experimentation with the principles of consociationalism from 1960 to 1988 under both the military and civilian rules. On the aggregate level of performance, the behavior of both the military and political elites is such that it can hardly sustain consociational democracy. The regimes of Gowon and Mohammed/Obasanjo could be credited for maintaining a modicum of consociational practice. However, other military regimes excelled in merely paying lip-service to the consociational experiment.;The Nigerian presidential system of the Second Republic was virtually operated as if it were a parliamentary system. It's method of operation practically jeopardized the moderation of the design of it's consociational politics.;In addition to the behavior of the elites, the study shows that consociational disposition alone cannot ensure political stability in plural societies unless, at the same time, there is conscientious husbandry of the economic resources to sustain the political process.