AbtractThis paper examines the problem of integrating traditional rulers into the contemporary local government system in Nigeria with a view of resolving the problems arising from the tradition/modernity nexus in the present scheme. Two basic questions guided this work. The first relates to the relevance of indigenous traditional institutions to the challenges of contemporary democratic processes. The second relates to whether traditional modes of thought, behaviour and institutions constitute resources or impediments to the projects of modernisation and development. This paper concludes that the goal of modernisation is to generate rapid increase in social wealth and its driving force is economic development; and where traditional institutions are able to contribute positively to this goal, their input should not be jettisoned.
In the developed countries, the military is identified largely for their role in the defence of the country from external aggression and helping out with internal security when the need arises. On the contrary, in a number of developing countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America, when the military is mentioned, their traditional defence and internal security functions get obscured in their political role. For a thirty-year period (1966 -1999), Nigeria was in this category of countries where the military have combined their constitutional role of defence of the country with that of political governance. While the participation of the military in governance has substantially fizzled out world wide, their impact on the socio-economic and political evolution of the countries concerned have been enormous. This paper critically examines the local government system in Nigeria midwifed by the military in the three decades of their rule; the initial emphasis on efficiency-oriented administration at the local level, the effort which culminated in the 1976 local government reform and the issue of whether the military can serve as modernizers in developing countries.
Currently, the Arab world is going through a critical phase of its collective existence as the entire region is under the grip of a revolutionary fervour. The consequences have both political and economic ramifications. Hitherto, totalitarian and dictatorial regimes in the region had not only tightly controlled the levers of power through political threats and manipulations but had also exploited whatever economic benefits which were available therein. This was accentuated by poor economic performance, unemployment, corruption and inequality that acted as catalysts for a general revolt. This gave birth to what is presently dubbed "Arad Spring''. Within months of the self immolation of Mohammed Buazizi, Tunisian President, Zine Al-Abidin Ben Ali who had ruled the country for 23years, fled the country. Also in Egypt, the wave of protests swept off President Hosni Mubarak after 29years in office. Despise the regime change in both countries; the political institutions that supported the old order were left intact. As such, the benefactors of the spring were not the masses but the members of the elites that were either supportive of the toppled regimes or their antagonists who used it to secure the much needed elusive political powers. This study is a survey of the countries where the authoritarian regimes have been replaced as a result of the Arab revolts, specifically; Egypt and Tunisia are the case studies. The emphasis is on how unmet expectations and unrealized goals have tended to derail the realization of the initial dreams of the citizenry in these countries.
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