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Institutional Development as a Challenge to Democratic Sustenance in Nigeria

Sarabjit Kaur is Lecturer, University Institute of Legal Studies, Panjab University, Chandigarh. Work on this article was undertaken at the Centre for Democracy and Development, Lagos as a Visiting Scholar under the South-South Exchange Programme in 2002. E-mail: sarab-jit14{at}yahoo.com.

Certain pre-conditions that can broadly be classified as economic, social and political have been regarded as essential for sustaining democracy. Among these, the political factor in terms of institutional development may be regarded as vital, for these institutions serve as viable channels for ventilating people's expectations and their dissatisfaction through non-violent means. Besides, they also serve as effective means to establish political accountability. However, more than the mere presence of the political institutions that help democratic sustenance, what matters is the fact that they must be nursed and developed to a level that other narrow, exclusivist ties like ethnic loyalties become less important. In other words, within the process of institutional development, there should be a balanced development of these institutions so that no one particular institution becomes powerful at the expense of other institutions. The experience of Nigeria highlights the troubled times the political parties, judiciary, media and other institutions have gone through as a consequence of military takeovers during much of the country's Independence. Faced with eroded institutions, Nigeria could not unfortunately grapple with the emergent challenges in the social or economic spheres.

International Studies, Vol. 44, No. 3, 217-233 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/002088170704400302


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