Department of Political Science

Permanent URI for this community

https://ir.unilag.edu.ng/handle/123456789/3456

Browse

Browsing Department of Political Science by Author "Fadakinte, M.M."

Now showing 1 - 8 of 8
  • Item
    Open Access
    Crisis of Citizenship and Nationhood in Africa: Reflections on Hegemony and the State
    (2017) Fadakinte, M.M.; Amolegbe, B.
    One major challenge which post-colonial Africa faces, today, is crisis of citizenship and nationhood, which this paper attempts to explain by arguing that Africa is made up of countries where none is a nation that is made up of one people. Therefore, in post-colonial Africa, the remarkable and fundamental differences in character, attitudes, habits, feelings and ways of life of the different peoples that make up a country, create a situation where the differences make the peoples to be antagonistic and bitterly hostile to each other, especially in their struggle for power and control of resources. This paper therefore interrogates the idea of hegemony and the state, how their nature and character accentuate the crisis of citizenship and nationhood and how the dynamics of colonialism and colonial rule continue to “terrorize” post-colonial Africa, because hegemony and the state that ought to unite the peoples and build a nation are bedeviled with internal crisis. In conclusion, the paper suggests that the constitution of each African country should make provision for each nation to have the opportunity for self determination.
  • Item
    Open Access
    Culture and creativity in post-colonial Africa: Whither the state
    (2017) Fadakinte, M.M.
    This paper relates the state to culture and creativity. And that is precisely because the three are interrelated. The paper argues that, culture, being an embodiment of the arts, modes of life, value systems, traditions and belief systems of the people, determines the nature of people’s creativity in society. Again, the paper further argues that, the dominant values in society at any historical epoch are the values of the dominant class, which explains why cultural values are the reflections of those of the dominant class. And that is because the dominant class dominates society at all the levels of thoughts. Furthermore, the paper argues that the nature and character of the dominant class determine those of the state because the state is a representative of the dominant class. Thus, if the state is an institution that represents the values of the dominant class it therefore means that the prevailing values and ideas in any society, which are those of the dominant class, are strongly influenced by the activities and character of the state. Finally, it is important, as argued in this paper, that we understand the nature and character of the dominant class in Africa and by extension, the African state, to enable us understand the dominant post-colonial culture in Africa and by implication the nature of creativity on the continent. That is the explanation that has been made here.
  • Item
    Open Access
    Hegemony and crisis of state in post-colonial societies: A theoretical exploration
    (2017) Fadakinte, M.M.
    Scholars have explained the implications of colonization on the colonial societies, but none has explained the implications to include crisis of hegemony and crisis of state. And this is the thrust of this paper, an interrogation of hegemony and the state in order to explain why post-colonial societies lack hegemonic order and a stable state resulting in instability, violence and chaos making it difficult for post-colonial societies to experience growth and then develop. Crisis of hegemony and crisis of state are occasioned by lack of cohesive dominant class, the dominant class that is always in rancorous, violent and sometimes bloody factional struggle for power and because of that, the post-colonial societies do not have the peace to evolve hegemonic order, a process that will embody the dominant values and culture that will guide the society. Consequently, because of their belligerent dominant class, the post-colonial societies find it difficult to evolve a ruling class that will consolidate a state, as a result, there is no stable state to articulate meaningful policies for the development of the society. Thus, there is need to redefine state-society relations in the post-colonial societies, within a new paradigm of state formation that will reflect their colonial experience.
  • Item
    Open Access
    Historicising Civil Society in Africa: An Analysis of the State, Democracy and the Third Sector
    (2015) Fadakinte, M.M.
    This paper discusses civil society as both a social value and as a set of institutions. However, whichever way we discuss the idea of civil society (as social value or as a set of institutions) in Africa, we are faced with some challenges because the idea of civil society poses a unique problematic. For example, to what extent is civil society a relevant idea in Africa, or does the idea of civil society any history in Africa, or does the third sector play any meaningful role, so as to be relevant in constitutionalism? Civil society as institutions derives its relevance from being between the state (government) and the people (society) to prevent the state from tyrannical and authoritarian rule and protect the citizen’s rights (democracy). In Africa, the state is either non-existent or it is in serious crisis, because it is fragmented and also lacks the peace to grow democracy while the African societies are more like communities as Africans are really more in communities than in societies. Again, in Africa, the liberal democracy that makes civil society institutions relevant is a charm. What do we then have in Africa, to make politics and liberal democracy (state/ society relations) a meaningful project?
  • Item
    Open Access
    Marxism and the State: Its Origin and Development
    (2015) Fadakinte, M.M.
    This paper focuses on the three perspectives adopted by Marx and Engels in explaining the origin and formation of the state, and the positions of some neo-Marxists regarding the nature and character of the state. The exemplification of the state by Marxism is interpolated in Africa, where the arduous journey ahead of the continent in the process of state formation appears very obvious, precisely because, from the analysis of Marxism, Africa is yet to evolve a cohesive dominant class that will create a strong ruling class with the needed hegemony i.e. discipline, leadership and domination to bring about a meaningful state that will plan for development.
  • Item
    Open Access
    The Nature and Character of the Nigerian State: Explaining Election Crisis in a Peripheral State
    (2013) Fadakinte, M.M.
    The Nigerian political process has been very unstable since the country attained independence in 1960. Governmental instability is therefore a feature of Nigerian‟s political life and election crisis has become part of this instability. The problem of election crisis in Nigeria is therefore not a new one. It had started soon after independence and had occurred at different times and in varying degrees. Indeed, election crises have been examined by scholars, with all conclusions either describing the problem as being caused by ethnicity, modernization or class relations. Even some of the explanations look at electioncrisis in Nigeria as a problem of class struggle without adequately clarifying the nature and form of class struggle that take place within the milieu of the Nigerian social formation. Election crisis in Nigeria, therefore, has always been explained with little attention paid to factional struggle for hegemony in a peripheral state.
  • Item
    Open Access
    Nigeria and Election Crises: Debating the Causes
    (2014) Fadakinte, M.M.
    Election Crisis has always characterized any general election in Nigeria, and there has been no general election since independence in 1960 that did not end in serious disputations, crisis, violence and even bloodshed. Today, it is like Nigeria is not capable of conducting free and fair election that will not end in chaos and violence. However, what are the causes of this nightmare? Here in lies the debate. Some scholars argue that the problem is caused by ethnicity, others claim it is a problem of modernization while some relate it to inter-class struggle. This paper disagrees with the above positions and adopts an alternative model which is factional struggle within the dominant class, in the process of state formation when there is no cohesive dominant class, or a ruling class. And the solution lies in the re- definition of the economy, to make it more citizens’ friendly, in terms of its ideology and its essence. The present position where there is state absolute involvement and control of the economy is inimical to liberal democracy. Secondly, the federal system in Nigeria is terribly awkward and not functioning. It concentrates all powers at the centre, and makes election a zero some competition. Thus, in Nigeria, he who loses an election loses everything and must “fight” back.
  • Item
    Open Access
    The State: A Conceptual Jungle?
    (2013) FADAKINTE, M. M.; Fadakinte, M.M.
    The idea of the state has been appearing in political thought/theory, with its definition and meaning varying from the time of Plato through Hobbes to Marx, denoting and connoting country, society, nation, government or community. Thus, what is the state? However, the centrality of the state in contemporary political discourse demands that our understanding of the concept of state should have some clarity, in that, the meaning of the state should be more specific, for clearer and more meaningful analyses of political issues. This paper therefore interrogates the idea of the state from Plato to Marx and concluded that scholars have added to the confusion regarding the definition and meaning of the state, because they fail to differentiate the spirit of the state, people being together, from its basic characteristics (identifying it). The state means the dominant group of people in society, who exercises power through the government. Therefore, it will not be apt to refer to a country of multinationals like Nigeria, India, Ghana, and Kenya as states.