(iPoster) Decentralized Despotism: Democracy at the Grassroots in Nigeria

• In Event: Poster Session: Democracy and Autocracy I

Abstract

Why are local systems of accountability susceptible to frequent breakdowns despite democratic progress at the national level and even when these leaders are close to people at the grassroots? Decentralization of power is a potent strategy for responding to challenges from below and centrifugal tendencies, especially in deeply divided societies. It is supposed to transform local governance since policies would reflect the needs and preferences of local communities. Drawing on the case of Nigeria, this project seeks to explain when and why decentralization fails to produce deeply rooted systems of accountability in developing democracies. Nigeria’s return to multiparty democratic governance in 1999 guaranteed federalism and expanded local governance. Before then, it had spent almost 30 years of its 39 years as an independent country under various forms of military rule. Today, local governance remains uneven, despite the steady progress at institutionalizing democracy at the national level.
Using sub-national election results conducted since 1998, this study shows how democracy and accountability function at Nigeria’s sub-national levels (states and local governments). It evaluates the timing and competitiveness of elections for state governors and local governments. The results reinforce contentions that Nigeria’s governors operate like “sole administrators and emperors,” to echo the former president Olusegun Obasanjo. As a result of this system, governors have rendered local public institutions ineffectual, and treat constitutionally recognized local government councils as their “private estates”. Theoretically, Nigeria’s subnational governments fit the model of decentralized despotism, whereby local elites, although democratically elected, stifle local democratic institutions, which allows them to control the “political grassroots”. This in turn has implications for national-level politics, as governors position themselves to influence national-level elites through their strongholds over local decision-making. Ultimately, these dynamics undermine systems of accountability at the local level and may contribute to weakening Nigerian democracy.

Author

• Christopher Akor, The University of Alabama