Political Culture and Nigeria’s Democratic Experience in the Fourth Republic

Abstract

Since Nigeria’s return to civilian rule in 1999, the quest to sustain and mainstream democratic practice and governance has continued to play a vital role in the country’s political life. While electoral democracy is universally acclaimed as the quintessence of good governance, Nigeria’s democratic experience has been apparently contradictory. This paper explores some contemporary issues of democracy and governance in Nigeria from the standpoint of the country’s prevailing undemocratic political culture. The descriptive qualitative analysis focuses on salient aspects of democratic culture. The paper posits that Nigerian’s democratic prospects have been undermined by its persistent undemocratic political culture. With reference to the country’s Fourth Republic, the paper highlights the critical implications of such an anomalous culture for Nigeria’s democratic aspirations and governance experience, noting that radical civic re-orientation is a desideratum for any change to the status quo.

Keywords

• nigeria
• democracy
• democratic experience
• elections
• opportunism
• political culture