political renewal in Nigeria
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
POLITICAL RENEWAL IN NIGERIA
Democracy
The simplistic definition of democracy ‘government of the people for the people and by the people’ can be cited by any layman but the practical application of those words varies in different forms. Democracy as a model and structure of government has been in use for a long time. It “entails a system of government that allows the citizens freedom to decide their desires. Ancient Greece (Athens in particular) is commonly regarded as the origin of Western democracy” (Lioba and Abdulahi 2005). The word ‘democracy’ has its origin in the Greek word demos which means “the people”, and kratia which means “to rule”. Theoretically, it means a control system by the people for the people, as opposed to rule by one despot (autocracy), or a few (oligarchy). Since ancient Greece, however, the concept of democracy has remained hard to pin down. It is ironic that notwithstanding centuries of democratic governance in various parts of the globe, there is currently no univocally accepted definition of the term. Democracy has been explained by various scholars of different school of thoughts, putting into consideration that the African democracy has its own variations. Some scholars can be placed into a continuum that ranges from maximalist to minimalist approaches. The body of minimalist democratic theory is drawn from several thinkers, such as William Riker, Russell Hardin , Joseph Schumpeter, Karl Popper, , and Adam Przeworski. These authorities share a perspective in which democracy neither sets conditions for its outcomes, nor characterizes itself as anything other than an electoral system. Przeworski (1999) simply defines minimalist democracy as “a system in which parties lose elections”. He sees the essential value of democracy being in the peaceful transfer of power enacted through regular elections. Schumpeter (1950) argues that democracy does not entail rule by the people, but that it is “…a
LITERATURE REVIEW
POLITICAL RENEWAL IN NIGERIA
Democracy
The simplistic definition of democracy ‘government of the people for the people and by the people’ can be cited by any layman but the practical application of those words varies in different forms. Democracy as a model and structure of government has been in use for a long time. It “entails a system of government that allows the citizens freedom to decide their desires. Ancient Greece (Athens in particular) is commonly regarded as the origin of Western democracy” (Lioba and Abdulahi 2005). The word ‘democracy’ has its origin in the Greek word demos which means “the people”, and kratia which means “to rule”. Theoretically, it means a control system by the people for the people, as opposed to rule by one despot (autocracy), or a few (oligarchy). Since ancient Greece, however, the concept of democracy has remained hard to pin down. It is ironic that notwithstanding centuries of democratic governance in various parts of the globe, there is currently no univocally accepted definition of the term. Democracy has been explained by various scholars of different school of thoughts, putting into consideration that the African democracy has its own variations. Some scholars can be placed into a continuum that ranges from maximalist to minimalist approaches. The body of minimalist democratic theory is drawn from several thinkers, such as William Riker, Russell Hardin , Joseph Schumpeter, Karl Popper, , and Adam Przeworski. These authorities share a perspective in which democracy neither sets conditions for its outcomes, nor characterizes itself as anything other than an electoral system. Przeworski (1999) simply defines minimalist democracy as “a system in which parties lose elections”. He sees the essential value of democracy being in the peaceful transfer of power enacted through regular elections. Schumpeter (1950) argues that democracy does not entail rule by the people, but that it is “…a