Abstract
This concluding chapter offers a broad insight into the future of electoral democracy in Nigeria, drawing from the lessons of the 2015 elections. Apart from recapping the main arguments of the various chapters of the book, the chapter also teases out the key broad themes of continuity and change in the 2015 Nigerian general elections. It also highlights important lessons learned from the 2015 elections. While the 2015 elections show considerable improvement in many respects, the highpoint of which was the alternation of power, there were reasons to believe that the road to electoral integrity in Nigeria remains rough and long. Other substantive issues explored in the chapter which relate to the limits of liberal democracy in driving governance and development agenda include questions about the adequacy or otherwise of the liberal democratic agenda which appears to foster political environment conducive to market reforms rather than the core issues of governance, popular empowerment and securing livelihood for majority of the people. Addressing these and related challenges requires deepening electoral reform, building democratic institutions and moving from procedural to substantive democracy.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Ake, C. 1991, ‘For Africa, the way forward’, The Guardian, 13 November, Lagos, pp. 2–3.
Ake, C. 1994, Democratisation of Disempowerment in Africa. CASS Ocassional Monograph, No. 1. Lagos: Malthouse Press Limited.
Ake, C. 1996, Democracy and Development in Africa, New York: Brooking Institute
Ake, C. 2000, Democracy and Development in Africa, Ibadan: Spectrum Books.
Amnesty International Report, 2015, The State of the World’s Human Rights - Nigeria, 25 February (availableatecoi.net) http://www.ecoi.net/local_link/297309/419665_en.html (accessed 09 May 2016)
Banjo, A. 2008, ‘The politics of succession crisis in West Africa: The case of togo’, International Journal on World Peace, 25(2), pp. 33–55.
Egwu, S. 2014. ‘Internal Democracy in Nigerian Political Parties’ in Olu Obafemi, Sam Egwu, Okechukwu Ibeanu and Jibrin Ibrahim, Published by National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, Nigeria.
Fernandez, C. F. 2006, Explaining the Relationship Between Democratization and Corruption in the Phillipines, 1968–2006, British Columbia, Simon: Fraser University Press.
Friedman, T. L. 2010, ‘The Democratic Recession’, New York Times, May 7
Govea, R. M., and Holm, J. D. 1998, ‘Crisis, violence and political succession in Africa’ Third World Quarterly, 19(1), pp. 129–148.
Greif, A. 2006, Institutions and the Path to the Modern Economy: Lessons from Medieval Trade, New York: Cambridge University Press.
Ibrahim, J., and Egwu, S. 2010, ‘Citizen Action and the consolidation of democracy in Nigeria: a study of the 2007 movement’, in V. S. P. Coelho, and B. von Lieres (eds.), Mobilizing for Democracy. Citizen Action and the Politics of Public Participation, (Claiming Citizenship; London/New York: Zed Books), pp. 120–42.
Larok, A. 2011, Democratising or Africanising Democracy: Which Way Africa? Reflections by Arthur LAROK for a Seminar on Electoral Democracy by MS TCDC, available at http://www.actionaid.org/sites/files/actionaid/arthur_democratizingafricaorafricanisingdemocracy.pdf
Leftwich, A. 2005, ‘Democracy and development: Is there institutional incompatibility?’ Democratisation, 12(5), pp. 686–703.
Leftwich, A. 2006, From Drivers of Change to the Politics of Development: Refining the Analytical Framework to understand the politics of the places where we work Part 3: Final Report. Department of Politics, University of York.
Linz, J. J., and Stepan, A. 1996, Problems of Democratic Transitions and Consolidation in Southern Europe, South America and Post-Communist Europe, Baltimore: The John Hopkins University.
North, D. C. 1990, Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Nyamnjor, F. 2005, Africa’s Media Democracy and the Politics of Belonging. London: Zed Books.
Obi, C. I. 2006, No Choice But Democracy. Claude Ake Memorial Lecture.
Oloja, M. 2016, ‘Fighting Corruption Vs Fighting Corrupt People’, The Guardian, May 7.
Piing, J. 2010, ‘The Challenges and Future of Democracy in Africa’ Excerpted from remarks made during the XLIV OAS Lecture of the Americas: “Inter-Regional Dialogue on Democracy: Celebrating Ten Years of the Inter-American Democratic Charter.”
Ross, M.L. 2006, ‘A closer look at oil, diamonds, and civil war,’ American Review of Political Science, 9, pp. 265–300.
Schedler, A. 2001, ‘Measuring democratic consolidation’ Studies in Comparative International Development, 36(1), pp. 66–92.
The Economist. 2014, Nigeria’s GDP: Step change, April 12, 2014, available at http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21600734-revised-figures-show-nigeria-africas-largesteconomy-step-change
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Hamalai, L., Egwu, S., Omotola, J.S. (2017). The 2015 Elections and the Future of Electoral Democracy. In: Nigeria’s 2015 General Elections. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54096-2_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54096-2_13
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-54095-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-54096-2
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)