Saturday, January 25, 2020

Voting Behaviour in Nigeria

Voting Behaviour in Nigeria ETHNICITY AND VOTING BEHAVIOUR IN NIGERIA ABSTRACT This paper tried to give a historical discourse about the relationship between ethnicity and voting behavior using Nigeria as its case study. Looking at the early evolution of Nigeria, after the amalgamation of both the northern and southern protectorates during the era of colonialism, one issue that has been mind boggling within the historic-socio-political discourse of Nigeria is the paradigm of ethnicity which many from the academia tend to see it as having a great impact in the way and manner elections are conducting which ultimately affects the voting pattern of the people as well. Using historic-descriptive method in which secondary data are mostly used in order to come up with this correlation between ethnicity and voting behaviour in Nigeria, the study noted that the former has significant impact in the way and manner political leaders are elected or recruited. Key Words: Ethnicity, Voting behaviour, Elections, Nigeria, Ethnic, Elites. INTRODUCTION: Ethnicity has been said to have had significant influence in the voting behaviour of individuals. This is mostly recorded in Africa and some part of Asia, where people tend to vote those who will govern them based on certain pseudo-socio and cultural make up. Hence this study will try to study the causal relationship between ethnicity which will be the independent variable and voting behaviour which is said to be the dependent variable and Nigeria will be the country used as the case for this study. According to scholars, ethnicity defines inequalities in our societies which is crucial to capture ethnic identities. Its attempts lead to influence the behaviors of others and the course of events in the organization in order to protect their self-interests, main priority is their own needs. For instance a voter would have to been of age, a citizen, had to be registered to vote and once their qualifications have been met. Then you have the honor to voting. Expanding on these ideas people assume that there candidate will just win even without leading their vote, which means if you do not vote don’t have the right to criticize your leaders. Political efficiency can be defined as one time influence and effectiveness on politics. So the lack of political efficiency is the thought that won’t make a difference. And to widen their own goals. Behaviour may be seen as political. Naming behavior as political, instead, usually implies a judgment that certain people are gaining so mething at the expense of others or the institution/organization as a whole. However a balance understanding of political behaviour and its consequence is needed. People seem to be self-centered and biased when crested actions as political behaviour. Employees may justify their own political behavior as defending legitimate rights or interests, yet call similar behavior by others ‘playing politics.’ RESEARCH QUESTIONS: The study seeks to ask the following research questions: How has ethnicity been able to influence voting behaviour? Are political parties ethnically aligned so as to influence voting behaviour? OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY: It is the desire of this study to be able to achieve the following objectives: To explain the causal relationship between ethnicity and voting behaviour pattern. To also know whether ethnic factors tend to affect voting pattern of individuals in the study. As an academic exercise it is the desire of the study to contribute to existing literature about the subject matter which is the causal relationship between ethnicity and voting behaviour. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: In other to come up with a causal relationship between these two variables, the study will rely on secondary data through which secondary sources such as books, articles, journals, reports from other think tank centers like freedom house, afro-barometer etc. in order to explain the correlation between these two variables. RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS: To examine the extent to which ethnicity can influence voting behavior in Nigerians the study has come up with the following hypothetical statements: H1- Whether Ethnicity influences voting behavior (Thesis Statement) H2- If it does not influence voting behavior (Anti-Thesis Statement) CONCEPTUALIZATION AND OPERATIONALIZATION OF TERMS: Ethnicity: Can be seen as synonyms of races because the usual idea is biological category inherited from generation to generation. Ethnicity is a basic form of identity, talking about were your ancestors came from and ethnicity can be seen as a cultural trade, believes and language, or a group of people who share a common history, language, culture, ethnicity is really culture component that people share and has been developed as identity over time. Also ethnicity refers to shared cultural practices that set apart one group of people from another. Voting Behavior According to ‘Juma’ (2011:22) explains voting behaviour as a set of attitudes and beliefs towards elections at the national as well as, at the local level. They are basically three source political scientist look at in order to analyse why people or voter behave the way they do, why they vote the way they do and why they chose the parties that they do; looking at the result of the election (seeing whose voting for what or women/men voting or generation voting for what) survey work ahead doing some studies of political socialization which is the process by which people gain their political attitudes, political opinions of growing up process and how you want to be the people you are LÄ °TERATURE REVÄ °EW: The study will try to examine what other scholars have written about the two variables, i.e. Ethnicity and Voting behaviour. Ethnicity: Borrowing from Balliber and Wallerstein, who tried to examine the concept of ethnicity in their work regarding the theory of state formation, Bonila Silva, looked at the term ethnicity as a process where by one assert certain distinct attribute aimed at creating and achieveing a sense of communal way of life in the society. While Barth F. sees ethnicity as a situation in which people that live in a distinct community tend to create a distinct identity that differentiates them from other categories of people in the society as well. Horowitz, (1985) note that ethnicity is the core principle of politics within a state which either challenge or serve as a medium of cohesion amongst states in order to reduce the inherent tension within the international system. According Horowitz, ethnicity exerts a strong direct impact on electoral behavior in ethnically-segmented societies, through generating a long-term psychological sense of party loyalty anchoring citizens to parties, where casting a vote becomes an expression of group identity. By implications, other social divisions become subsumed as secondary to ethnicity. VOTING BEHAVIOUR: According to â€Å"Juma â€Å"(2011:22), the term voting behaviour, connotes a collection of attitudes, values and beliefs in which individuals of a given society have towards elections both at the local, national and international level. While Harrop and Miller, using a constructivist paradigm, explained voting behaviour as a pattern of political participation mostly taking place in democratic societies where people react to certain laid down values, principles and beliefs how they choose their leaders. These set of beliefs could be based on age, sex, ethnicity, religion and education. THEORITICAL FRAMEWORK: In order for this study to be able to explain the causal relationship between ethnicity and voting behaviour, the study will adopt the theory of constructivism in order to be able to study this synergy between both the independent and dependent variables. This theory tries to analyse events, issues and phenomena via a sociological perspective and socio-cultural vantage point. Relating this theory to my study, since both variables tend to toe towards studying socio-cultural phenomena, the study would look at how this variants of ethnicity affects voting behaviour. DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION: This is the aspect of the study where the researcher will try to test his hypothesis in order to determine the degree of causality between his variables using relevant secondary data as well as information from think-tanks that can be able to measure his variables. After the analysis the researcher will be able to either vilify or corroborate his hypothesis. SUMMARY/CONCLUSION: This is the last phase of the study, where the researcher will be able to come out with a testable statement and conclusion about the findings of his research, make recommendations where necessary and also make suggestions for further study. Drawing from the available data largely drawn from the reports of ‘Afro-barometer’ and ‘Freedom house’, there seem to be a causal relationship between ethnicity and voting behaviour in Nigeria. This is usually attributed to the diverse nature of the Nigerian society in which there are over 450 local languages, in which each ethnic group, wants a stake in the body polity. This ethnic divisions, played a latent role even in the composition of the various political parties in the country in which right from independence to date, none of the political parties actually, have a national outlook, but rather they are all structured and are operated towards ethnic and religious lines. Thus, with this type of party structures in the society, the ‘ethnic’ factor most often influenced, voter’s choice, because most Nigerians, tend to opt for candidates that represent their ethnic origin rather than vote based on merit, ability or to a candidate that w ould provide the needed dividends of good governance. REFERENCES: Allen, H. (2007), How do rules and institutions encourage vote buying, In Schaffer, (2007), The Causes and Consequences of Vote Buying, Lyinne Reiner Publishers, Colorado. Brusco, M. et al. (2004), Vote Buying in Argentina, Latin American Research Review, vol. 39, No. 2, pp. 65-88. Ibrahim, J. (2007), Nigeria’s 2007 Elections: The fitful Path to Democracy, Institute for Peace, Washington D.C. Ifidon, (2003), Transition from Democracy in Nigeria: Toward a Pre-emptive Analysis, African Journal of Political Science, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 109-128. Jega, A. (2007), Elections and the future of Democracy in Nigeria, NPSA, Lagos. Michael, B. Lewis, P. (2007), The Durability of Political Goods: Evidence from Nigeria’s New Democracy, Cambridge University Press, New York. Michael B. (2007), Who Votes? Implications for new democracies, available at: http://www.globalbarometer.net/publication.htm accessed: 30th April, 2014.

Friday, January 17, 2020

I Was Born Ugly

Not the kind of Ugliness that makes my mother turn away in revulsion. But the Ugliness that makes her stare intently, taking in every rough edge and every smooth curve. Only so that she can sit awake at night and ask God what he was up to. The type of ugliness that you wear like a jacket even when it smells of dried sweat and stunted growth. Ugliness is what made effulgent barbarians out of grown men. Because civilization and sanity are only opium for civilized and sane people and civilized and sane people are beautiful people. Ugliness is what makes the painter paint, the sculptor sculpt and the writer write. Their very existence is an act of rebellion, of contumaciousness. Art is Ugliness that helps us realize nature’s deficiencies and it cannot appeal to beautiful people, it offends their being, it is objectionable and unpleasant to their senses. Ugliness is what prompted negroes to march and sing for a liberty that was supposed to be intrinsic and not take up arms. Ugliness was the fire in his bones when he stood on that podium, forsaking office and gentry and tell the truth for what it was. Yes, Ugliness was the culprit. Ugliness was the strength in her eyes when she gave that child a hug, when she held that man’s hands and told that woman it was going to be alright. Ugliness was what made her die for a cause she knew was never going to lift her out of a squalor that her family had struggled with for generations. Ugliness was what made him look at faces that opposed him and still decide that he was not going to pick that stone or utter that curse. Ugliness was what made him think that his justice and freedom were for naught if the man in the next room did not have his justice and freedom granted to him and in equal measure. Ugliness breathed in his breaths when he said an eye for an eye, and the world will go blind. Ugliness was the reason she said that if you love until it hurts there can be no more hurt only love. Ugliness was what made that promising scholar turn his back on years of academic excellence to join an army he was so clearly unfit for. For Queen and Country was what he said. Ugliness was what swam in their veins when they suspended the death sentence because they believed that Human Rights were fundamental, that they were rights for not some, not a majority but every human being. If you seek someone to blame, blame ugliness. Ugliness was what made that mother contend the sentence against her son with every thing she had and did not have. Courage? No, that was Ugliness. Ugliness is what makes that mandarin stay true to his oaths and that wife true to her vows. Ugliness is what makes the little girl kneel beside her bed every night and pray for the hands that beat her. For the tongues that curse her and for a government that does not acknowledge her. Ugliness is not a beautiful thing, a beautiful thing is that which has tried to imitate Ugliness and failed.. Ugliness is ugly.

Thursday, January 9, 2020

Essay on Death of a Salesman and Street Car Named Desire

Biff: â€Å"will you take that phony dream and burn it before something happens† Compare how the authors of Death of a salesman and â€Å"street car named desire explore the conflict between truth and illusion Truth and illusion are utilized in Tennessee Williams â€Å"Streetcar Named Desire† and Arthur Millers â€Å"Death of a salesman† through the use of the character; to lead the reader to a possible conclusion on the beliefs that went into the American dream that prompted people to work hard was that america was the land of opportunity while in fact that opportunity is used to manipulate those who follow this dream something that is most evidently shown in Millers main character Willy and to put forward a essential criticism of the materialistic†¦show more content†¦This Contrasts Millers use of this dramatic technique as â€Å"The Harmonious Flute† is used to obscure Willys sense reality, in contrast to Williams use of it to identify Blanches reality. Unlike Blanche, Willy is compltetly oblivious to the truth and resides to his memories to conceal himself away from the reality that the American dream has failed him. The flute is reminiscent of Willys p ast and often symblozies when Willy is reminscing becasue he is unable to bare the truth that his American dream is failing. This shows that Willy is unable to deal with the truth due to the false reality that the maerican dream has presented him with and made him beliveing into. The best example of this is the tape recorder which Willy accodentally sets in motion. In its â€Å"shrieking†, unpleasent tones of a child recounting phrases, we see how awful it is for Willy to have to live an accurate account of the past such as this. This is a vivid expression of his unconscious desire to repress the truth. This is proven even before the start of the play where the first stage directions should indicate â€Å"a dream rising out of reality† Thurther emphiseing Milliers critic throughtout the entire play. Though while Williams and Miller both identify these Illusions as a way of their characters protecting themselfs from their societys; Blanches male dominated patriarchal s ociety and Willy’s failed american dream. Blanche lives in a dream world,Show MoreRelatedCharacter Comparison906 Words   |  4 PagesName Tutor Course Date Blanche De Bois versus Willy Loman Blanche Du Boise is a character in Tennesse‘s fictional plain by the title a street car named desire while Willy Loman is a fictional character in Arthurs miller play; death of a sales man. Blanche in the play street car named desire is an extremely complicated character who appears to have internal conflicts throughout the play. 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