African Ruling Political Parties and the Making of ‘Authoritarian' Democracies: Extending the Frontiers of Social Justice in Nigeria

Abstract

African democracies are distinguished by the character of their political parties. They are easily labelled as illiberal civilian autocracies. These features coupled with emerging so-called dominant ruling parties, demonstrate the inclination towards a new form of 'modern' democratic authoritarianism. In other words, the ruling dominant parties are appearing to be a 'reincarnation' of the one-party system and military rule that held sway for about three to four decades in Africa (from the 1960s). In the process of this transformation, African ruling parties have been grossly destabilising opposition and perceived dissenters through

The spatial pattern of voter choice homogeneity in the Nigerian presidential elections of the fourth republic

“…There were two major contenders for the 1999 presidential election, The People's Democratic Party (PDP) and a coalition of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) and the All People's Party (APP) (Kura, 2008). The PDP had a former military Head of State, General Olusegun Obasanjo, as its candidate.…”

“…Thus, the 1999 election represents a new dawn because although a little clustering of electoral support homogeneity can be observed, significant spatial clustering of ten ignored in the analysis of voting behaviour. This limitation is replete with many studies of the Nigerian elections that did not consider the homogeneity of voter choice (e.g., Ihonvbere, 1999;Momoh, Thovoethin, 2001;Kura, 2008). This will be illustrated with the work of Ihonvbere (1999), which argued that Hausa-Fulani ethnic groups in northern Nigeria voted for Obasanjo and against Falae because the latter was considered an AD Yoruba irredentist while Obasanjo could be trusted to sustain if not augment the interests of the North.…”

Peoples Democratic Party in the Fourth Republic of Nigeria

“…The vision, mission, and objectives upon which PDP as a party was originally conceived were not different from the way other parties viewed their objectives in other democracies such as Ghana and Senegal (Kura, 2009). The fundamental objectives which PDP gave for itself in its founding constitution centered around democratization of Nigeria, promoting national reconciliation, building true political and fiscal federalism, and ensuring equitable distribution of power, wealth, and opportunities to conform with the principles of power-shift and power-sharing.…”

“…There have been instances, even if rare and uncommon, among African democracies where parties that lost power at the center bounced back. In countries like Benin, Ghana, and Senegal, incumbent presidents and their parties had at different times lost elections and accepted defeat only to strategize and win back power later (Kura, 2009). Much of this, however, depend on the interplay of several variables including how the defeated party reposition itself, and the party in power acquitted itself.…”

Explaining the relative success of a developmental state in economic development: a comparison of Malaysia and Ghana

“…Dictatorship regimes have used guerrilla tactics to oppress political activists while democratic regimes have subverted political activists through clientelism and patronage politics to increase political power (Carbone 2007;Kura 2008). The increase in political instability from the nature of political arrangements has affected infrastructural development in the region, which requires $93 billion annually (about 15% of SSA's GDP) to meet the deficit (World Bank 2010).…”