The 33rd Virtual Annual Conference of the Nigerian Political Science Association

The global political economy within the past four decades has been inundated by series of conversations and debates that revolve around democracy and development, particularly as it affects peripheral capitalist social formations. Specifically, the tenets and virtues of democracy as the best form of government have continued to be tinted with claims suggesting that most countries that claim to be democratic are more developed than others or on the right path of a developmental trajectory. This is borne out of the conventional notion that there is a positive relationship between democracy and development. As a corollary, debates bordering on democracy trade-off and preference for the developmental state appear to be resonating.

The ascendancy of democracy as the preferred form of government worldwide has had profound effects on governance in Sub-Saharan Africa, among which is the increasing collapse of authoritarian regimes. This manifested in Nigeria in 1999 when a civilian government was enthroned after prolonged and circuitous years of military dictatorship. This civilian government which has endured for over two decades, witnessed a successful inter-party transition of political power. However, the initial euphoria that greeted the enthronement of multi-party democracy in Nigeria appears to be waning. The much-anticipated dividends of democracy in the form of good governance, observance of the rule of law, social justice, freedom, equality, equalization of opportunities, reliable and functional institutions as well as accelerated development, are yet to be deepened.

Consequent upon the above, the 33rd Virtual Annual Conference of the Nigerian Political Science Association on the theme: Democracy and Development in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic: Issues and Challenges, is organized, inter alia, to take stock and assess the transformations generated by democracy in Nigeria since May 1999.

Time
May 25, 2021 11:00 AM
May 26, 2021 11:00 AM
May 27, 2021 11:00 AM

Time shows in West Central Africa