Political Theory

Reinventing Africa for the Challenges of the Twenty-First Century

Reinventing Africa for the Challenges of the Twenty-First Century By Professor Julius O. Ihonvbere, OON, OGI Being Text of the 2010 Annual Public Lecture of the Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilisation (CBAAC), Lagos, 22nd July, 2010 It is a great pleasure to be here with you all today and I thank CBAAC […]

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Nigeria’s Democratic Enterprise Since 1999: A Preliminary Assessment

Democracy is also about human, especially socio-economic and cultural rights, due process, accountability, fiscal discipline, transparency and the careful but targeted deployment of scarce resources to meeting the basic needs of the majority of the people. Let me add that democracy is about ensuring a steady and qualitative improvement in the lives of the people, in their socio-economic, political, cultural and spiritual development, the protection of their environment, the decolonisation of their minds, and putting the people in the middle of holistic and sustainable growth and development.

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Political Obligation and Democratization

POLITICAL OBLIGATION AND DEMOCRATIZATION Professor Julius O. Ihonvbere, OON Text of Lecture Delivered at the Workshop on Political Obligations/Social Contract for Local Government Political Officers in Cross River State, Calabar, April 21st, 2008 It is indeed a pleasure to be amongst you here today. Let me congratulate you all on your election as chairmen of

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Ethnic Reconciliation

Ethnic Reconciliation by Professor Julius O. Ihonvbere, OON Paper delivered at the Policy and Programme Retreat 2007, Organised by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Delta State Chapter, Grand Hotel, Asaba, Delta State, February 2007. I thank the Delta State Chapter of our great Party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for inviting me to deliver this

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Constitutionalism and the National Question in Nigeria

Constitutionalism and the National Question in Nigeria Julius O. Ihonvbere The number one political contradiction or challenge in Africa today is how to deal with the national question.  The continent’s history and the contradictions and engagements of the post-colonial era have precipitated deep political fault lines and congealed interests on both side of the political

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The Nigerian State as Obstacle to Federalism

The Nigerian State as Obstacle to Federalism: Towards a New Constitutional Compact for Democratic Politics “Under a true federal constitution, each group, however small, is entitled to the same treatment as any other group, however large.  Opportunity must be afforded to each to evolve its own peculiar political institution.  The present structure reinforces indigenous colonialism-

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Imperialism and the Democratization Process in Africa

Imperialism and the Encapsulation of the Democratization Process in Africa It is rather interesting to note the way in which debates on the current democratization projects in Africa have been domesticated, encapsulated, and redirected by Western scholarship, media, and institutions. It is no wonder that the initial enthusiasm which accompanied the so-called “opening up” processes

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Political violence in a fledgling democracy

Political Violence in a fledgling democracy Professor Julius O. Ihonvbere Text of public lecture delivered under the auspices of THE BREEZE MAGAZINE, Airport Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos March 14, 2003 Mr. Chairman, it is not my intention to speak for too long today. I would prefer to be brief and to leave enough time for discussions

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Governance, Economics, and Interdependence in Africa

Governance, Economics, and Interdependence: Constraints and Possibilities in Sub-Saharan Africa Paper presented at the Summer Institute on “Governance, Equity, and the Global Poor: A Curriculum Development Institute,” Sponsored by Spelman College and Interfaith Hunger Appeal, Spelman College, Atlanta, Georgia, June 9-12, 1994. The breathtaking pace of political change in Africa has surpassed any predictions or

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Between Policy and Politics

Between Policy and Politics: Strategies for Moving Nigeria Forward. Text of Convocation Lecture Delivered at the 13th and 14th Convocation Ceremony of The Federal University of Technology, Akure, October 30, 2002. *Professor Ihonvbere is also Project Director, Constitutionalism in Post-Conflict Societies” Project with the International League for Human Rights in New York; Visiting Professor of

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