Constructing a Cardinal Measure of Democratic Development in aTransition Polity: The Nigerian Example

Extract

In the last decade, the political institutions and practices under which economic decisions are made have received increasing attention in the analysis of the responsibility for economic underperformance. This attention has in turn led to a questioning of the issues of conceptualization and measurement of the variables involved. While economic variables are easily conceptualized and measured, political institutional factors present some difficulty. Although the aim of a democratic system is to assure the rights and freedoms for the citizens of a polity, for those polities in transition, the processes that drive societies towards or away from higher rights and freedoms for their citizens are more important. This paper attempts to cover the following topics: first, to construct measurable variables of democratization that can be used to determine the level of democratic development in a transition polity; and second, to apply these variables to determine the level and patterns of democratization in Nigeria. Section two highlights significant past research which has measured the levels of democracy across different countries. In section three Nigeriaxi' s political history is summarized to show a polity in continuing political transition. Section four identifies relevant dimensions of democratization in a transition polity. Section five applies the dimensions to derive indices to measure the level of democratization in Nigeria. In section six the pattern of the democratization process in Nigeria is established. Section seven justifies the measures for transition polities and suggests the use to which they may be put.