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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Democracy dividends, not democracy
Author:Odion Akhaine, SylvesterISNI
Year:2012
Periodical:Liberian Studies Journal (ISSN 0024-1989)
Volume:37
Issue:1
Pages:1-32
Language:English
Geographic terms:Africa
Nigeria
Subjects:democracy
democratization
governance
development
Abstract:Using Nigeria as a case study, the paper argues that there is a general awareness by the electorate of the social responsibility of government, as well as the failure of State actors to deliver the 'dividends of democracy'. Also, it argues that the persistent clamour for 'dividends of democracy' has become a soft form of resistance to policy failure of politicians, as well as an expression of the desired change by the electorate. In the same way, it is argued that apart from a lurking false consciousness arising from the non-appreciation of the historical constraints on the democratization process, there is a connection between policy failure and the propensity of a section of the electorate to accept financial inducement from the politicians eager to influence their electoral fortune. The paper concludes that democracy will be meaningful only when it improves the human condition of the electorate; and this will only come about through the construction of a historical bloc for nation-building and modernization through an intense civic engagement with public policies in ways that uphold the democratic method, i.e. the process of electing State actors to preside over public affairs. Bibliogr., note, sum. [Journal abstract, edited]
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