Reassessing Ethnic-based Party Formation, Proliferation and Political Instability in Nigeria: A Periscope into the Future
Monday E. Dickson, Victor E. Ita
Asian Research Journal of Arts & Social Sciences · pp. 1–14 · Published 13 Aug 2022
10.9734/arjass/2022/v18i230328Abstract
This paper examined the manifestations of ethnic cleavage and identity on party formation and proliferation in Nigeria’s political landscape. Nigeria is unarguably a country with multi-ethnic nationalities with each group intermingling with another in the tussle for political power. From independence until the Fourth Republic, the nation’s social structure in terms of heterogeneity has significantly influenced electoral politics. This raises germane concerns as to why the formation of political parties in the country tilts more towards ethnic attachment and is bereft of ideological leanings, unlike what is obtainable in advanced democracies. From a historical-descriptive perspective, the paper unfolded the bases for the rise of ethnic-based political parties as well as justified the contention that ethnic-based considerations in the political process have contributed to political instability in Nigeria. Moreover, the paper authenticated the fact that ethnic-based parties featured prominently in the early years of independence and afterwards, resulting in regime displacements and that ethnicity is still a foremost determinant of party formation and political contests in contemporary Nigeria’s Fourth Republic. Consequently, the paper recommended, prominently, that political party leaders should avoid actions that could heat the Nigerian polity up and eventually plunge the country into crisis with attendant political instability; rather they should focus on issues that will promote political integration and cohesion among ethnic nationalities within the country.
References (31)
- 1 Ethnic Groups in Conflict [DOI]
- 2 Party Systems and Voter Alignments [DOI]
- 3 American Journal of Political Science [DOI]
- 4 Political Parties and Democracy [DOI]
- 5 Ethnic Parties and Democratic Stability [DOI]
- 6 Democracy in divided societies: Electoral engineering for conflict management
- 7 Structural Adjustment and Ethnicity in Nigeria [DOI]
- 8 Nigerian Political Parties: Power in an Emergent African Nation [DOI]
- 9 Political Parties in Africa: Ethnicity and Party Formation [DOI]
- 10 Nigeria Votes: More Openness, More Conflict [DOI]
- 11 Party Formation and Democratic Transition in Spain: The Creation and Collapse of the Union of the Democratic Centre [DOI]
- 12 An Introduction to Nigerian Government and Politics [DOI]
- 13 The J Curve: A New Way to Understand Why Nations Rise and Fall
- 14 Do Votes Count? 1 The Travails of Electoral Politics in Nigeria
- 15 Ethnic Conflict and Democracy in Nigeria: The Marginalisation Question [DOI]
- 16 Ethnicity and Ethnic Politics: An Impediment to Political Development in Nigeria [DOI]
- 17 Ethnicity and Election Outcomes in Nigeria: Interrogating the 2015 Presidential Election [DOI]
- 18 People, politics, and politicians of Nigeria (1940-1979)
- 19 Political parties and pressure groups [DOI]
- 20 An introduction to politics
- 21 3 Political Parties and National Integration in Nigeria [DOI]
- 22 The Democratic Civilization [DOI]
- 23 The Management of Transition to Civil Rule by the Military in Nigeria (1966-1996) [DOI]
- 24 The Nigerian Federal Election of 1959: Politics and Administration in a Developing Political System. [DOI]
- 25 THE EVOLUTION AND PATTERN OF POLITICAL PARTY FORMATION AND THE SEARCH FOR NATIONAL INTEGRATION IN NIGERIA [DOI]
- 26 Party Coalitions in Nigeria. History, Trends and Prospects
- 27 TRENDS OF POLITICAL INSTABILITY IN NIGERIA: THE WAY FORWARD
- 28 Political parties, formation, development, performance and prospects
- 29 The Politics of Marginalization in Nigeria: Challenges of the 4th Republic [DOI]
- 30 Parties and party system in Nigeria
- 31 Political parties: organization and power [DOI]
Cited by 6
Ibrahim Kabir, M Muzamil Naqshbandi, Yazid Abdullahi Abubakar · Entrepreneurship & Regional Development · 2024
Dode, R. O., Ita, V. E. · African Journal of Law, Political Research and Administration · 2024
University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria, Chioma Scholastica Ugwu · AKSU Journal of Social Sciences · 2024
Showing 3 of 6 known citations — external sources report more than can currently be individually listed.
Related research
- Preauricular Sinus: Presentation, Laterality Pattern, Ethnic and Gender Differences among Nigerians — shares topic coverage
- Health and Nutritional Status of College Students of Different Ethnic Backgrounds of Tripura, a North-East State of India — shares topic coverage
- Ethno-communal Conflict and the Local Government System in Nigeria: A Desideratum of Peace Building — shares topic coverage
- Experimental Study: The Relationship between Plasmodium falciparum Gametocyte Carriage and Mosquitoes Infectiousness in Two Sympatric Ethnic Groups in Burkina Faso — shares topic coverage
- The Variation in Anaemic Parameters in the Ethnic Groups of Pakistan — shares topic coverage
Article metrics
Real usage data collected on this platform.
5
Page views
0
PDF downloads
0
Outbound clicks
6
Citations
Views over time
Views by country
Approximate, from request IP at view time — not citizenship or institution. Countries with fewer than 5 views are grouped as "Other".
Traffic sources
Referring site, by host.
Views and downloads exclude known bots/crawlers. Citations combines this platform's own DOI-resolved index with each external source's own reported total — see Cited by above for individually listed citing works. Last refreshed 0 seconds ago.