CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the study
The relationship between democracy and national development is widely appreciated. This is because democracy plays a very important and crucial role in promoting good governance and fostering national development. The common feature of democratic governance is its emphasis on improving the socio-economic welfare of the people and this is synonymous with the idea of national development. Thus, the individual and his quality of life remains the centre of conception of national development (Amucheazi, 1980). Democracy, over the years and across the globe, has been presented and perceived as a condition for national development (Egena,2013: 250).The democratic aspiration of the African countries, in line with this belief, is also concerned with the desire for development. Virtually all the countries in Africa, given this belief, within the past two decades, have adopted democratic system of government (Dike, 2001). The expectation, in view of this, is that development among these African nations would positively correlate with the democratic practice. Contrarily, however, African nations even under the democratic system of government have continued to be characterized by underdevelopment and deep poverty (Ake, 1996;Nwuke, 2004; Habu, 2008). Indeed, this is so to the extent that majority of the countries in the world classified by the United Nations (UN)as the least developed are among these African countries with democratic regimes. (See UN Human Development Index, 2009).
Niccolo Machiavelli, proponent of Machiavellianism political philosophy described democracy in a way that had generated debates among scholars in his work titled “The Prince”. Machiavelli considered politics as battles, although not through a lens of morality, but as chess game with established rules. His experience revealed that politics have always been played with deception, treachery and crime.
Scholars have therefore maintained that the Machiavellian conception and practice of politics is a wrong interpretation because it does not represent politics in its true sense. It is from this point of view that this study seeks to examine the Nigeria democratic experience and seeing its manifestation in our political practice, the student contends that for Nigeria to experience development in all ramifications, the spirit of traditional idea of democracy should be embraced.
Observing the Nigeria democratic experience since 1999 calls for reflection on whether democracy as a political ideology for Nigeria has realized its values. Traditionally, democracy as a political ideology is supposed to give power to the people, promote the pursuit of public interest and enhance social order. However, what the present democratic experience has been offering is nothing other than economic and social problems, manifesting in high level of insecurity. These deviance militates against national development.