Abstract: Democracy is an ambiguous concept. It means different things to different people. This is why different nations think it right to work out their own brand of democracy. A democracy that is indigenous to their culture and which relives the political worldview of their people. On the other hand, international community tends to have one ideal concept of democracy: a democracy of two or three party systems, rooted in the rule of law and due process, grantees human freedom and respects human dignity. Indigenous democracy upholds communitarianism, cultural values, respect for custom and tradition, dialogue and negotiation for conflict resolution. This is the paradigm which Afro-asiatic nations recline towards; while ideal democracy, if it truly exists, is the paradigm which the west is putting forward as the political ideal for all nations of the world to adopt. The oldest paradigm is that of conception of democracy as “house rule”. What we can deduce from these paradigms are:
1. The indigenous democracy and western democracy are all paradigm shift from the oldest paradigm concept of democracy as “house rule”.
2. Both indigenous democracy and western democracy are not pure democracies but representational democracies.
3. Representational democracy is another name for injustice, marginalization, and under development.
Leadership, on the other hand, refers to the plans and policies which are meant to influence the citizens and direct them towards the realization of set common goals. Leadership in a democratic setting employs democracy as a structure to deliver good governance. As a structure, the leader can as well ignore the structure and operate with other private structures or pseudo-structures in order to realize not common goals but group or selfish goals. This is the travail of Nigeria in the midst of debate between democracy and leadership in Nigeria.
Keywords: Democracy, leadership, Nigeria, and national integration.
Title: Democracy and Leadership in Nigeria: Towards National Integration
Author: Emeam Innocent Izuchukwu
International Journal of Social Science and Humanities Research
ISSN 2348-3156 (Print), ISSN 2348-3164 (online)
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