Parallel institutionalism and the future of representation in Nigeria

Parallel institutionalism and the future of representation in Nigeria

Author: 
LeVan, A. Carl
Publisher: 
Taylor & Francis Group
Date published: 
2015
Record type: 
Journal Title: 
Journal of Contemporary African Studies
Source: 
Journal of Contemporary African Studies, Vol. 33, No. 3, July 2015, pp. 370-390
Abstract: 

As Nigeria marked its centennial in 2014, violent sectarianism pried open a historical debate about whether ?amalgamation? of the country's two former regions by British authorities in 1914 was a ?mistake?. Even before independence, however, self-interested nationalism restrained self-interested regionalism, sustaining unification. I argue that a ?parallel institutionalism? has ever since mediated the nation's heterogeneity through two different visions of representation. A long pause in state creation, a reduction in the Effective Number of Parties, and declining relevance of a pact that facilitated the 1999 democratic transition have revealed latent tensions in the status of multicultural institutionalism and strengthened liberal institutionalism. I then analyse how demographic, economic, and migratory trends are slowly transforming the structure of representation, placing dilemmas of parallel institutionalism at the centre of future nationhood. Additional research could explore a natural experiment between the northeast, which is facing an Islamic insurgency, and the northwest, which is not.

Language: 
Country focus: 

CITATION: LeVan, A. Carl. Parallel institutionalism and the future of representation in Nigeria . : Taylor & Francis Group , 2015. Journal of Contemporary African Studies, Vol. 33, No. 3, July 2015, pp. 370-390 - Available at: https://library.au.int/parallel-institutionalism-and-future-representation-nigeria-1