Abstract: The Nigerian state became integrated into the global capitalist system as a dependent, neo-colonial and peripheral formation. The nature of its integration had implication for the character of its state and resultant economic crisis. The Nigerian economic crisis is explainable in terms of the vulnerability of its economy to external influences and the absence of production base. The recurring economic crisis, its nature and dimension, have engaged leftist scholars who largely critique the country's economic crisis as fall out of peripheral capitalist development. The left scholars and intellectuals equally pigeon hole the adoption of economic reform measures as prescribed by the Breton woods institutions. These economic reform agenda are critiqued as instruments of deepening dependency and peripheral ism in Nigeria. The article gives historical and analytic account of the roles of left scholars, left base trade unions, radical student movements and equally radical civil society organizations in organizing around and canvassing for alternative development paradigms for Nigeria. These development constructs are predicated on a leading and supervisory role for the state, economic democratization, people based development and developing local capital formation. The development alternatives are posed as viable frameworks to reduce the country's dependent status and secure its political and economic autonomy.
Keywords: Economic Crisis, Paradigms.
Title: The Left, Economic Crisis and Alternative Development Paradigms for Nigeria
Author: Dele Seteolu
International Journal of Social Science and Humanities Research
ISSN 2348-3164 (online), ISSN 2348-3156 (Print)
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