Doc new media and democratic consolidation in nigeria. Doc democratic consolidation in ghana samuel dalton. The media and democratic consolidation in postcommunist eastern europe svetlozar a. The paper applies the concept by wolfgang merkel merkel. The use of new media in politics has continued to grow in recent times. Liberal theory of democracy is an interesting theory in this work.
Transition elections are the general elections conducted by a departing political authority which was either the colonial authority as was the case in 1959 or a departing military regime as. Role of media in nigerias democracy research cyber. Sometimes both of these phrases are embraced under the word democratization. Employing a case study approach, it highlights as well as analyzes the medias role in insisting on accountability and decency in nigerias notoriously corrupt public life. Political parties, democratic consolidation, fourth republic, democracy, electoral politics, nigeria. Pdf the electoral process and democratic consolidation. It means a democratic stay that cannot come to an end suddenly or. Civil society and democratic consolidation in nigeria. Even though nigeria has experienced over seventeen years of uninterrupted democratic practice, there are various challenges confronting nigerias democracy which has restrained it from consolidation. In this process, therefore, the nature of democratic consolidation in nigeria has been characterized by the determination of the nations political actors to squarely face the challenges of the surrounding vicissitudes of democracy.
It will be analyzed via content and historical analysis. This the media did through their critical criticism of the military juntas, mobilization of the citizens to participate in entrenching democratic values, exposing cases of corruption, and making public officers accountable to the people. It is this picture of africa as an emerging democratic continent from decades of brutal dictatorship and the massive economic. This includes support for political pluralism, regular elections, freedom of the press, and the right of association. Election riggings in nigeria have dealt a huge blow to the development of democracy in nigeria.
The april elections and democratic consolidation in nigeria 42 appendix a. The 2015 general election was unprecedented in the annals of the country because for the first time an entrenched and incumbent party was defeated at the polls, and the country witnessed a peaceful alternation of power between contending political parties thereby fulfilling one of the preconditions for democratic consolidation. But democratic consolidation is a lot more than all of this. The role of electronic mediainternet on democratic. Prospects and challenges preye kuro inokoba department of political science niger delta university, p. The media and democratic consolidation in post communist. The nigerian experience from 19992017 article pdf available august 2018 with 3,173 reads how we measure reads. Media accountability and democracy in nigeria, 19992003. The birth of a new order martin uadiale department of international studies and diplomacy benson idahosa university, benin city, edo state, nigeria email. Despite nigerian media great performance in promoting democracy, they are. The new social media and consolidation of democracy in.
Introduction mainstream rhetoric in nigeria media and popular discourses of the polity is often centred on the claim that nigeria is consolidating. We have essentially in the study, identified some of the features of the progress made in democratic consolidation in nigeria within the period of focus 1999 2015. Freedom of information act and democratic consolidation in. Corruption the bane of democratic stability in nigeria, journal of social sciences 24. Faulenbach the concept of democratic consolidation.
Introduction it is not insignificant that the role of mass media is today analysed alongside that of such major institutions as parliaments, executives, political parties and elections. Hence, the aim of this paper is to examine why democracy is. Voters readily perceive the contradiction and a party. Originally, the term democratic consolidation is meant to describe the challenge of making new democracies secure, of extending their life expectancy beyond the short term, of making them immune to the threat of authoritarian regression, of building dams against eventual reverse waves schedler, a. Democratic transition and consolidation in south africa. There is the need for the nigerian media to treat information not as a commodity, but as a social product generated in a deliberative public sphere. The paper will equally examine the elusiveness of democratic consolidation with a view to making some recommendations on democratic sustenance in. The history of general elections organised in nigeria since 1959 has been categorised broadly into transition elections and consolidation elections. I examine the parody of ipd in nigeria, exemplified in faulty processes employed in the nomination of political party electoral candidates. Political parties and democratic consolidation in nigeria. Given this, some missions have been hesitant to engage in media sector support, even though they recognize the important role it plays in democratic transition and consolidation. Using the recently concluded 2015 elections in nigeria to show the prospect of credible elections to democratic consolidation, it situates its. As the case of gambia has shown, regional leaders and organizations have a crucial role to play in ensuring peaceful transitions after contested democratic elections.
Since barack obama broke the world record in the history of social media use for political purpose during the 2008 us presidential elections, many nations and politicians across. The literal meaning of democracy comes from a combination of two greek words, demos people and kratos rule, and at its core, democracy is a form of government in which the. While it remains true that nigeria is governed by democratically elected leaders at the federal and state levels, nigeria is yet to institutionalise democracy after a century of existence as a political entity. According to freedom house, the number of electoral democracies in africa slipped from 24 in 200708 to 19 in 201112, while the. I attempt this by examining the interface between the media and politics in some of the countries that have joined the democratic bandwagon in the. The fourth republic perspective with abstract, chapter 15, references. Nigeria house of representatives candidates to 25 years old. Process and democratic consolidation in nigeria, journal of politics and law, vol. Nigerias fledgling democracy is transient or sustainable and, more importantly, whether nigeria disintegrates or reconfigures itself as a nationstate. Intraparty democracy and democratic consolidation in nigeria democratic values and practices are crucial for democratic institutionalization and the development of party strength.
The role of electronic mediainternet on democratic consolidation in nigeria with abstract, chapter 15, references and questionnaire. Ethnic politics and democratic consolidation in nigeria. In addition, poverty and unemployment persists despite policies designed to uplift the poor. This paper provides an analysis of the extent to which ghanas liberal democratic process is being consolidated, focusing on the role and contribution of the media, civil society and state political institutions to this process. Pdf mass media, freedom of expression and democracy. This paper examines election rigging and its effect on democratic consolidation in nigeria relying on qualitative approach, using data gathered from secondary sources. This was found to be a significant burden on democratic consolidation. Consolidation suggests there is a democratic foundation being strengthened and built.
Media, elections and political violence in eastern africa. Democratic consolidation literally refers to the deliberate political process in a polity by which democracy is broadly legitimatized among its citizens that it is very unlikely to break down ouyang, 2009. It was an effective tool in the hands of the proponents of democracy, to mobilize the ragtag and the bobtail against the smoking guns of the military. Ed elections and the future of democracy in nigeria. Africas democratic process by focusing on the role of the media as a way of taking the body temperature of africas democracy in the 1990s. Nigeria elections final report national democratic institute. Get free research paper on social media and democratic consolidation in nigeria our project topics and materials are suitable for students in nigeria with case studies in pdf, doc. Credible elections and democratic consolidation in nigeria. Nigerias electoral process, the 1999, 2003 and 2007 elections were characterized by electoral malpractices which portends danger to democratic consolidation in nigeria. In doing so, i establish that the nonuse practice of ipd in the nomination of party candidates for elections weakens party unity and institutionalization, and negatively affects democratic consolidation.
An appraisal of mass media role in consolidating democracy. Following a democratic transition in 1992, ghana has made significant efforts to promote a liberal democratic culture and system of government. The importance, how to, effect causes relationship, comparison, history, role, solutions are discussed. The advice of the experts avast literature has appeared over the last two decades on democratic transition and subsequently on democratic consolidation.
Research cyber team hopes this article was helpful. The major obstacle to achieving consolidation though, is the issue of the african national congress dominance in parliament, rendering the opposition relatively insignificant. To mount pressure for the passage of the amendment, yiaga africa carried out strategic outreach to political actors, organized ntytr marches across the country, and raised awareness about the campaign and its petition on social and traditional media. Ineffective civil society and weak democratic consolidation. Nigerias transition but the growth of democracy on the continent has been uneven. Andreas schedler during the past quartercentury, the third wave of global democratization has brought more than 60 countries around the world from authoritarian rule toward some kind of democratic regime. Andreev centre for the study of democracy university of westminster 1. In the light of these concerns, it has become imperative to reconsider the concept of civil society as a possible catalyst to. In the case of nigeria, ette 2000 argues that media can undermine democracy and states, it is not even clear the press has a common understanding of how it should serve the cause of democracy. The paper posits that what negates democratic consolidation in nigeria is the failure of the actors to abide by the norms of democratization. Consolidation suggests there is a democratic foundation being strengthened and built upon. It makes no sense to stand for a democratic polity and yet not practice democracy within ones party.
Thus, information will not be just a product for sale, but one generated by the public and for the public good. A study of democratic consolidation in south africa. Therefore, this paper examines democratic consolidation and challenges of legislative politics in nigeria from 19992011. The mass media and the struggle for democracy in africa. This article discusses the role of the media in nigerias fourth republic between 1999 and 2003. The media can never be separated from nigerias long walk to democracy. In this light, this study investigated the nexus between political parties and democratic consolidation in nigeria. Freedom of information act and democratic consolidation in nigeria. In particular, it unravelled the underlying factors that aid or account for the intraparty conflicts in the peoples democratic party that stood as obstacle in the drive to consolidate democracy, with a view to pinpointing useful lessons to boost democratic growth in nigeria.
Department of mass communication, delta state university, p. Methodologically, data for this paper were generated mainly from secondary sources of recorded human documents. Concepts and terms that feature prominently in this discourse which need to be clarified are social media, social networking, and democratic. Electoral violence and the challenge of democratic. The paper discusses some of the impediments to the institutionalisation of democracy in nigeria after more. We have in this study, identified democratic consolidation as a process and not a realization. Not all media practices, though, may be beneficial to democratic development.
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