BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Populist theory of democracy suggests that democracy and its process function to make political decisions based on the collective will of the people. The will of the people is determined by the participation of the people in voting, involvement in political and public affairs, and expression of opinions and thoughts. Therefore, the strength of democracy according to the populists depends on the strength of participation of the people in political and public affairs.

Populist theorists, such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau (The Basic Political Writings 1987 P. 201) and John Stuart Mill (Utilitarianism, On Liberty, Considerations on Representative Government, Remarks on Bentham’s Philosophy: The Guernsey Press, 2001 P. 246) suggested that democracy can indeed be weakened by low voters turnout. Voting is one of the easiest ways for citizens to participate in the democratic process. If less people are expressing their will—that is lower voter turnout—the less accurate the will of the people will be, according to populist theory. Putnam described voting as “the most common act of democratic citizenship” (Putman, Robert D. Bowling Alone. 2000 P 31).

Jean-Jacques Rousseau advocated full participation of the people in lawmaking: “In a well run city everyone flies to the assemblies; under a bad government no one wants to take a step to get to them…. Once someone says what do I care about the affairs of the state, the state should be considered lost” (The Basic Political Writings 1987 P. 201). Rousseau wrote about this concept of sovereignty and stated that the legislative power has to be in hands of the people. John Stuart Mill (Utilitarianism, On Liberty, Considerations on Representative Government, Remarks on Bentham’s Philosophy: The Guernsey Press, 2001 P. 246) recognized that the best form of government was representative government. Even though the people gave some of their power to make policies to their elected representatives on trust, Mill acknowledged that ultimately the power of the state lies with the people: “There is no difficulty in showing that the ideal best form of government is that in which the sovereignty, or supreme controlling power in the last resort, is vested in the entire aggregate of the community; every citizen not only having a voice in the exercise of that ultimate sovereignty, but…called on to take an actual part in the government”. Robert Dahl, in his work (Democracy and its Critics 1989), argued that “effective participation” is a criterion for the perfect democratic process. However, Dahl emphasized the opportunity for participation in making decisions and not the manifestation of it when he said that “Throughout the process of making binding decisions, citizens ought to have an adequate opportunity, and an equal opportunity, for expressing their preferences as to the final outcome” (Democracy and its Critics 1989 P. 102). Therefore, the propensity for a system to be more democratic is when participation by the people to influence decision making increases and vice versa.

Voting is one of the easiest ways for citizens to participate in the democratic process. Putnam described voting as “the most common act of democratic citizenship” (Putman, Robert D. Bowling Alone. 2000 P. 31). Populist theorists would argue that voting represents the will of the people. In elections, people vote for representatives that they believe are most in line with their political beliefs and views. In turn, the decisions made by these elected representatives are based on the will of the people. This is why Mill supported representative government when he stressed that “the meaning of representative government is that the whole people, or some numerous portion of them, exercise through deputies periodically elected by themselves the ultimate controlling power”. Along with representatives, citizens vote for initiatives, bonds, and other issues that also correspond to their political beliefs. A populist theorist would argue that the outcome of an election represents what the people wanted (the will of the people).

Therefore, voter turnout is vital for the democratic process hence Rousseau claimed that “the peculiar advantage to democratic government is that it can be established in actual fact by a simple act of the general will”. If less people are expressing their will; that is lower voter-turnout and the less accurate the will of the people will be according to the populist theory. This shall be one of the bases for assessing the political participation of Nigerians using the last general elections in Lagos state in 2003.

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

The experience with citizens’ participation in electoral politics in Nigeria generally and Lagos state in particular has not been encouraging. Even where development of local participation is an important tool of rural development and where political education in mass participation is a key element of the development strategy, programmes have not developed genuine participation and responsibility among the people.

The people have become recipients of development as if development is something outside their realms of experience and right respectively. There are political, socio-cultural and bureaucratic constraints to political participation.

MAIN OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The main objective of this project work is to consider the nature and extent of political participation by the people in a democratic system. This, as noted above, will be carried out by assessing the involvement of the people in electoral process in Lagos state.

Besides, this research work also aims at achieving other important objectives which are also fundamental to the smooth operations of governance in a democratic set up. The other objectives are enumerated below:

i. to establishment any possible relationship between political education and political participation in order to clearly state the crucial ingredient of political participation;

ii. to examine the legal framework of electoral system and election administration in Nigeria in order to spot their inadequacies and provide possible amendments;

iii. to propose a number of strategies to mobilize citizens for increased political participation and effectiveness respectively in the country as a whole; and

iv. to know the degree of confidence the people have in the electoral system of their state/country as it is assumed that this is reflected in their participation in electoral politics.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This project work is significant because it is aimed at explaining political participation in the context of good governance. This will enables us to appreciate the fact that the formulation of a national agenda through dialogue by all stakeholders is a prerequisite for political participation.

Participation needs to be part of a broader conceptualization of development, with much more attention to organizational structures and linkages. However, participation has turned into a cliché for those administering development; its values have been overemphasized, while doing little to make it a reality. The study shall also serves as an evaluation masterpiece for the 2003 general elections in Nigeria from the perspective of the people of Lagos state.

SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This project work shall discuss the concept of political participation, focusing mainly on what it is and what it is not within the African context. The history of Nigeria’s politics shall be traced from the colonial era to the present. The gathering of views on the electoral politics shall be restricted to Lagos State with reference to the 2003 general elections covering Gubernatorial, House of Assembly and Local Government elections in the state.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND SOURCE OF DATA

The two main research methods to be used are survey research and content analysis. Survey research method shall be used to gather information from respondents concerning their opinions on 2003 general elections and electoral politics in general. The questionnaire to be used shall be carefully administered and responses shall be presented in tabular form and relevant percentages calculated and analyses made.

Simple arithmetic calculations and percentages shall be presented in tabular form to present the collected data. This will make the analysis of the data more concise and simple.

Under Content analysis method, secondary data will be collected from Independent National Electoral Commission of Nigeria’s (INEC) office in Yaba, Lagos. Such documents shall include the guidelines for elections in states, legal provisions for elections, Results of the 2003 general elections held in Lagos State e.t.c.

RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS

The research hypothesis that will serve as the yardstick for the administration of the questionnaire shall be based on the theoretical framework that political education is fundamental to political participation. Therefore, the research hypothesis are :

H0: That the extent of the political participation of the people in electoral politics is not related to their political education.

H1: That the extent of the political participation of the people in electoral politics is related to their political education.

Where H0 is the Hull Hypothesis, while H1 is the Alternative Hypothesis.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The following research questions shall serve as guidelines towards the achievement of the objectives of this project work:

i. Is political participation restricted to voting?

ii. What has been the trend of political participation over the years?

iii Are people politically informed and active in Lagos state?

iv. Is political participation affected by socio-cultural factors?

v. Is there any correlation between awareness and political participation?

CHAPTER FRAME WORK

Chapter one will contain the introductory part, the background of the study, the statement of the research problem, objective(s) of study, scope and limitation of study and research methodology to be adopted.

Chapter two will deal with the literature review while the research methodology will be examined in chapter three. Data presentation, analysis and interpretation will be covered in chapter four while the concluding part of the research work will be chapter five where in a nutshell the summary, the conclusion and the recommendations will be discussed.

REFERENCES

Dahl, Robert A. Democracy and it’s critics. New Haven; Tale University press 1989.

Mill, John S. Utilitarianism, on Liberty, Considerations on Representative Government, Remarks on Bentham’s Philosophy.

Guernsey: The Guernsey; The Guernsey Press, 2001.

Parry, G. (1972) “The idea of political participation” in Parry. G. (ed) participation in politics, Manchester, Manchester University Press.

Putman, Robert D. Bowling Alone. New Tork: simon and Schuster, 2000.

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. The Basic Political Writings. Indianapolis; Hackett Publishing Company, 1987.

Schumpeter, Joseph A. Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy. Harper Collins Publishing, 1975.