FOR THE LOVE OF DEMOCRACY_______ Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu

                                                                                                                                                                               

More than a hundred and seventy million people of different ethnic groups and languages, a choked up polity political analysts may prefer to describe as confusing and rootless. Every nook and cranny of the country is the cry of marginalization that has since grown into what one may want to ascribe endless agitations-politely put, because many of the agitations have since  nosedived into violence that have continuously rendered the economy at a stand-still. 

Yet, since nineteen-ninety-nine, the country has not stopped beating its chest that it has arrived at the destination of a system of government akin to all civilized countries of the world- Democracy.

And what is that democracy that Nigerians- maybe not all Nigerians because many would say there is no such thing as democracy in the country if they should go by the true meaning of the term as entrenched in the political minds of the people by those who fashioned it- are so proud of? Can we rightly say that that system of government is functional in the country where some feel that they are not part of all the benefits of its tenets? Or can we rightly say, too, that, there is indeed the practice of democracy where some people go into politics as in business and they think it is a business of self-profiting while those they are supposed to represent are left on the pedestrian bridge to lick up their pains and abject poverty?

A bit of history of the political term. Democracy, or the “rule of the commoners”, was originally conceived in Classical Greece, whereby political representatives were chosen by lot from amongst the male citizens: rich and poor. In modern times it has become equated to elections or “a system of government in which all the people of a state or polity elect representatives to a parliament or similar assembly”, as defined by the Oxford English Dictionary. Democracy is further defined as, [a.] government by the people; especially, rule of the majority. [b.] a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation. 

The American Founding Fathers rejected ‘democracy’ as defined by the Greeks, preferring instead ‘a natural aristocracy’, whereby only the landed gentry were entitled to a place in Congress. The Americans, as with the English, took their cue from the Roman republic model where only the patrician classes were involved in government. As such, many people today, including academics, have come to understand democracy in terms of elections, rather than selection by lot. 

According to political scientist Larry Diamond, it consists of four key elements: (a) A political system for choosing and replacing the government through free and fair elections; (b) The active participation of the people, as citizens, in politics and civic life; (c) Protection of the human rights of all citizens, and (d) The rule of law, in which the laws and procedures apply equally to all citizens. 

In the 5th century BC, to denote the political systems then existing in Greek city-states, notably Athens, the term is an antonym to “rule of an elite”. 

While theoretically these definitions are in opposition, in practice, the distinction has been blurred historically. The political system of Classical Athens, for example, granted democratic citizenship to free men and excluded slaves and women from political participation. 

In virtually all democratic governments throughout ancient and modern history, democratic citizenship consisted of an elite class until full enfranchisement was won for all adult citizens in most modern democracies through the suffrage movements of the 19th and 20th centuries. The English word dates to the 16th century, from the older Middle French and Middle Latin equivalents.

With that bit of history of democracy, Nigeria cannot be said not to be practicing it as a system of government since elections are being held to choose representatives by votes by the people who think those they have chosen to lead and represent them would do so taking into consideration all the its characteristics.

Some of the many of its characteristics must include the following:

Legal equality

Political freedom

The Rule of Law

It should contain the three fundamental principles of, a, upward control, that is, sovereignty residing at the lowest levels of authority, b, political equality and, c, social norms by which individuals and institutions only consider acceptable acts that reflect the first two principles of upward control and political equality.

Measurement of democracy:

If indeed Nigeria is said to be democratic, then its democracy must be said to posses the following:

The law must accommodate every citizen equally; one aspect of the law cannot be said to be reserved for the rich and another for the poor. A politician who is elected into a political office to represent the people but chooses to use that office indiscriminately to enrich himself should be punished by the same law as the poor person who misused his/her freedom by going against set laws and rules.

There should be press freedom. The press or the media should be allowed free access to information that would benefit the public; it should be allowed to investigate every story with the full backing and protection of the law in doing so.

There should be the protection of individual rights and freedoms as contained in the constitution. Such rights and freedoms are, rights to education, good standard of living, choices to preferred place of residence within the country without being harassed by anybody or group of persons; right to worship, right to criticize government and government’s policies constructively, etc.

The right to protest and air out grievances without being targeted by the government.

The right for the people to choose whether they want to remain in a single political/economic relationship or seek a divorce from any such relationship,

And since democracy is about the people, it must be open to a referendum to discuss issues that concern the well-being of the people.   To secede or not to secede or the path to achieve whatever secession if need be.

Types of democracies

They are many, but only a few will be considered here.

Representative democracy: Involves the election of government officials by the people being represented. If the head of state is also democratically elected then it is called a democratic republic. The most common mechanisms involve election of the candidate with a majority or a plurality of the votes. Most western countries have representative systems.

Representatives may be elected or become diplomatic representatives by a particular district (or constituency), or represent the entire electorate through proportional systems, with some using a combination of the two. Some representative democracies also incorporate elements of direct democracy, such as referendums. A characteristic of representative democracy is that while the representatives are elected by the people to act in the people’s interest, they retain the freedom to exercise their own judgment as how best to do so. 

 Liberal democracy: Is a representative democracy in which the ability of the elected representatives to exercise decision-making power is subject to the rule of law and moderated by a constitution or laws that emphasize the protection of the rights and freedoms of individuals, and which places constraints on the leaders and on the extent to which the will of the majority can be exercised against the rights of minorities.

In a liberal democracy, it is possible for some large-scale decisions to emerge from the many individual decisions that citizens are free to make. 

Consociational democracy: This allows for simultaneous majority votes in two or more ethno-religious constituencies, and policies are enacted only if they gain majority support from both or all of them.

Consensus democracy: This, in contrast, would not be dichotomous. Instead, decisions would be based on a multi-option approach, and policies would be enacted if they gained sufficient support, either in a purely verbal agreement, or via a consensus vote – a multi-option preference vote. If the threshold of support were at a sufficiently high level, minorities would be as it were protected automatically. Furthermore, any voting would be ethno-tribal blind.

Inclusive Democracy: This is a political theory and political project that aims for direct democracy in all fields of social life: political democracy in the form of face-to-face assemblies which are con-federated, economic democracy in a stateless, moneyless and market-less economy, democracy in the social realm, i.e. self-management in places of work and education, and ecological democracy which aims to reintegrate society and nature. 

The theoretical project of inclusive democracy emerged from the work of political philosopher Takis Fotopoulos in “Towards An Inclusive Democracy” and was further developed in the journal Democracy & Nature and its successor The International Journal of Inclusive Democracy.

The basic unit of decision making in an inclusive democracy is the demotic assembly, i.e. the assembly of demos, the citizen body in a given geographical area which may encompass a town and the surrounding villages, or even neighborhoods of large cities. 

An inclusive democracy today can only take the form of a con-federal democracy that is based on a network of administrative councils whose members or delegates are elected from popular face-to-face democratic assemblies in the various demos. Thus, their role is purely administrative and practical, not one of policy-making like that of representatives in representative democracy.

The citizen body is advised by experts but it is the citizen body which functions as the ultimate decision-taker. 

Authority can be delegated to a segment of the citizen body to carry out specific duties, for example to serve as members of popular courts, or of regional and con-federal councils. Such delegation is made, in principle, by lot, on a rotation basis, and is always recallable by the citizen body. Delegates to regional and con-federal bodies should have specific mandates.

Cosmopolitan democracy:  Also known as Global democracy or World Federalism, is a political system in which democracy is implemented on a global scale, either directly or through representatives. An important justification for this kind of system is that the decisions made in national or regional democracies often affect people outside the constituency who, by definition, cannot vote. By contrast, in a cosmopolitan democracy, the people who are affected by decisions also have a say in them.

According to its supporters, any attempt to solve global problems is undemocratic without some form of cosmopolitan democracy. The general principle of cosmopolitan democracy is to expand some or all of the values and norms of democracy, including the rule of law; the non-violent resolution of conflicts; and equality among citizens, beyond the limits of the state. 

Creative Democracy: Creative Democracy is advocated by American philosopher John Dewey. The main idea about Creative Democracy is that it encourages individual capacity building and the interaction among the society. Dewey argues that democracy is a way of life in his work of “”Creative Democracy: The Task Before Us” and an experience built on faith in human nature, faith in human beings, and faith in working with others. 

Democracy, in Dewey’s view, is a moral ideal requiring actual effort and work by people; it is not an institutional concept that exists outside of ourselves. “The task of democracy”, Dewey concludes, “is forever that of creation of a freer and more humane experience in which all share and to which all contribute”.

Deliberative democracy is based on the notion that democracy is government by deliberation. For a democratic decision to be legitimate, it must be preceded by authentic deliberation, not merely the aggregation of preferences that occurs in voting. Authentic deliberation is deliberation among decision-makers that is free from distortions of unequal political power, such as power a decision-maker obtained through economic wealth or the support of interest groups. If the decision-makers cannot reach consensus after authentically deliberating on a proposal, then they vote on the proposal using a form of majority rule.

Radical democracy: Is based on the idea that there are hierarchical and oppressive power relations that exist in society. Democracy’s role is to make visible and challenge those relations by allowing for difference, dissent and antagonisms in decision making processes.

Democracy all over the world should have the same principles and values and there is no way that Nigeria can be different. If Nigeria is said to be truly practicing democracy, the features stated here and more should be weaved into one to satisfy every reason why that system of government was chosen above the others. It must be seen to be creative-creativity on the part of the government and the governed.

Unfortunately, what the country has witnessed over time is the uncreativity of government where it loses all forms of creativity becoming a bully leaving the governed no room but to challenge that bullying.

No government should see itself to be above the people- the electorates- unless that government is jettisoning democracy and taking a stand on dictatorship.

However, there are problems that exist in democracies. In Nigeria, many abound. Some of them include:

Insincerity and corruption on the part of those who have been elected to represent the people: Over time, politicians have been known to go to the people with fine words of promises with which the people are swept off their feet, as soon as they get into office, the electorates are made to understand why their promises to them cannot be fulfilled because at the time they made those promises, they did not know the enormous challenges that awaited them. Before one knows it, these persons who cannot the reasons why they have been elected to represent the people become rich overnight.

The strong taking advantage of the poor and the weak: The weak here represent the many electorates that trust rather beyond thinking and reason that those who are going to represent them would go out there for the very reason they have been elected.

The challenge whether the poor should be allowed to represent the people or if the greedy rich should be given the responsibility of such representation: This comes down to whether timocracy should be chosen above popular democracy. The question that arises here is, if timocracy-a system where only the rich and wealthy is allowed to be elected for governance- should be instituted since it has been proven timelessly that the rich and wealthy do not always shy away from greed and selfish acquisitions.

There are the monstrous problems of tribalism and nepotism: As put forward by Aminu Kanu, ‘Nigeria will know no peace until the son of a nobody can become somebody without knowing anybody.’ Succinctly, put, Aminu had witnessed how nepotism and its twin, tribalism had rocked the stability of the Nigerian polity and economy. And that evil is still with the Nigerian democracy to date.

Poverty: When there is hunger in the land and the economy continues to suffer free falls, if the people may give a thought to the worrying situation, they may care less about who lead them as their immediate concern would be to stay out of starvation regardless who is representing them

Illiteracy: A society with a large size of its population such as in Nigeria is ready to accept whatever is thrown at them; they accept all without questioning. Where they attempt questioning the activities of the government, their ideas are based on spoon-feeding by the same government that is ever ready to capitalize on their thoughtlessness.

Religion: When the people become despondent and hopeless and their trust has been broken by those they thought would solve every of their problems, they then go in search of the unknown for relief. In this case, they become so religious in their quest forgetting that, they and only they have the answer and solution to their problem by demanding from their leaders through the legal processes and other characteristics of democracy put in place for that purpose.

How do we forge ahead and make our democracy beautiful and in tandem with universal norms and values?

Education! Education! Education! The masses need to be educated and enlightened about government and governance; they must understand that no government can survive without the people. When there is this establishment of mass education, then every other thing can follow such as the renunciation of self towards the success of the collective.

On the area of tribalism and nepotism, there should be the question of whether the small unit is better off the large unit and question such as the following should be raised at points of decisions:

Should we agree to live together?

What should be the yardstick for living together?

Should we learn to trust one another?

Should we not think fast enough because of our education and enlightenment to kick away every myopia that stagnate growth and development?

Should we not believe in ourselves and by so doing such believe in self would be extended to others outside our comfort zones?

What is there to afraid of if indeed we see ourselves as equal human with different abilities which can be used for the benefits of the collective?