The Challenges of Democratic Governance in Nigeria's Fourth Republic

This book is a collection of scholarly essays from some of Nigeria’s most notable social science scholars on the character, contours, and peculiarities of democratic practices in Nigeria’s fourth attempt at constitutional rule after years of brutally absolutist military regimes. The Fourth Republic began in 1999 and continues to this day. It is coterminous with the restoration of constitutional rule after 16 years of sustained military rule, which represents the longest stretch of democratic self-rule since Nigeria won independence from British colonialism in 1960.
The chapters in this book contain scholarly insights into the pitfalls of governance, institutional dysfunctions, and foundational woes that continue to threaten the vitality of the Fourth Republic. Contributors to the book offer critical theoretical lenses to gaze at the decline in democratic citizenship, the weakening of faith in the promises of democracy, the loss of critical media engagement with the state, and the deterioration of the socio-political fortunes of the state in Nigeria.