The story of democracy in Africa as a whole has been one of a constant struggle of African peoples against, colonization, tribalism, military dictatorships, one-party rule authoritarianism, imperialism and neo-liberal globalization. (Ake, 2000) This was Ake’s argument in his book The feasibility of democracy in Africa, which meant to showcase that the failure of democracy in the continent was not caused by the peoples lack of will but other external factors. In very few cases in Africa has the transition
"The history of the world is a chronicle of oppression," declared General Ojukwu, an Igbo leader who fought for Biafran independence during the 1960s to the 1970s. He had to live in Nigeria during this period of oppression, which ultimately resulted in a civil war, known as the Nigeria-Biafran War. Prior to the war, Great Britain turned Nigeria into an artificial colony, consisted up of over 300 ethnic and religious groups who were shoved into one nation. The two largest and most conflicting of these
(a) The Pre-Colonial Period Africa’s pre-colonial period, including its structure, can best be meaningfully appreciated in the light of the anthropological and historical perspectives. Unfortunately, few legal studies have been conducted for the same period, consequently, coherent data do not exist that would have allowed for an in-depth and detailed analysis of various African legal systems nor, indeed, of human rights protection and promotion. It is well known, however, that African societies
Introduction Why do nations fail? This is a topic of popular debate with many economists and a question many scholars have struggled to find an answer to. Global poverty is an issue that economists Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson investigate and provide an alternative insight for in their book: ‘Why Nations Fail’. Acemoglu and Robinson investigate inequalities that exist across countries and why nations are an epitome of success and others, failure. They come up with an alternative explanation
King-Ndaya HIST 3000 April 28, 2014 British Colonial Policy and the Ensuing Nigerian Civil War. The Nigerian Civil War lasted from July 6, 1967 until January 15, 1970. The belligerents were the Federal Republic of Nigeria, led by the military governor Yakubu Gowon, and the Republic of Biafra, led by the military governor C. Odumegwu Ojukwu. After an abortive counter-coup d'etat in favor of Northern independence, General Ojukwu declared the independence of southeastern Nigeria. Each of these regions were
“Dictatorship naturally arises out of democracy, and the most aggravated form of tyranny and slavery out of the most extreme liberty.” Plato wrote this in 360 B.C.E. in his book titled The Republic, despite it being centuries old, it still speaks the truth. This can be seen in the years before World War 2, when the world saw three major dictators rise to power. Dictators such as Adolf Hitler of Germany, Hideki Tojo of Japan, Benito Mussolini of Italy and Joseph Stalin of Russia were the main dictators
have been stopped if they only thought things through. The author of the review continues the statement further, saying: “Though Aguiyi-Ironsi was quickly overthrown in a counter-coup masterminded by northern Muslim officers, which placed General Yakubu Gowon as the new head of the Federal Military Government (FMG), ethnic tensions spiralled. Consequently, anti-Igbo pogroms in the north followed, with 30,000 Igbos being killed and over one million fleeing the north to the eastern part of the country
Nigeria: A Country Headed in the Right Direction Imagine throwing several different groups of people, all of whom have nothing in common and all of whom have different beliefs and follow different morals and ideals, and forming one nation out of them. Now, imagine trying to govern this nation as one cohesive unit. This is exactly what Great Britain tried to do in the formation of Nigeria over a period of time spanning from the days of the slave trade until October 1, 1960, when Nigeria eventually
Throughout Chinua Achebe’s Anthills of the Savannah, there are several thematic elements used to express the corruption of the government in post-colonial Nigeria. Nigeria has been culturally changed due to colonial British rule. Colonial Britain has changed the way Nigerians govern, which has resulted in many coups throughout the timeline of Nigeria. The way and life now for Nigerians is very different than it would be without interference from outsiders. Anthills of the Savannah demonstrates the
Colonialism and Independence: Nigeria as a Case Study During the colonial period in Nigeria (from about 1850 to 1960), the British, like any other colonial power, asserted their dominance through a variety of media. The colonial experience of Nigeria and Britain, and Nigeria's early post-colonial history can be described, roughly chronologically, in three phases or periods: the formation of a ‘captured' colony, the education and inculcation of ‘proper,' British ways (i.e., the ‘taming'
This essay is a pragmatic reading of moral and socio-political decadence in Femi Osofisan’s Midnight Hotel. It does this by analyzing ten out of twenty-five proverbs deployed in the text. In analyzing the proverbs, this essay observes that each has at least an ad hoc constituent which requires semantic modulation to get at the meanings of the proverbs. This modulation is not arbitrary, but contextually negotiated until the reader reaches his optimal relevance. Wilson and Carston argue that metaphors