In this political science course you will learn about the twin concepts of federalism and decentralization. You will develop an understanding of the core ideas that federalism and decentralization rest on, and study the building blocks that make them both work. Following a general overview of both federalism and decentralization, we will examine a number of case-studies from Africa where federalism and decentralization have been changing the continent’s political landscape in the last twenty years, coinciding with unprecedented levels of economic growth. What is federalism and how is it different from decentralization? What are the core ideas behind these concepts? Do federalism and decentralization enhance democracy, governance and diversity? Is that why virtually all countries south of the Sahara are now either federal or decentralized? We will be looking at Africa's track-record in order to answer these questions. By the end of the course, you will have acquired a general knowledge of federalism/decentralization and additional empirical knowledge of a number of African cases. Upon completion you will also acquire the ability to unpack and understand a variety of potential consequences of federalism/decentralization reforms in the developing world.
Federalism in Nigeria
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來自 Universiteit Leiden 的課程
Federalism & Decentralization: Evaluating Africa's Track Record
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從本節課中
Federalism in Post-Conflict Societies
In previous modules, you've learned the theory behind federalism and decentralization, as well as the most important concepts and building blocks, This module, we will look at three case studies to acquire insight into how federalism and decentralization work in practice: Nigeria, South Africa and Ethiopia.
與講師見面
Dr. Jan Erk
Fellow, Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study, (STIAS)
Welcome to our third and final federal case study.
Nigeria, Africa's biggest economy and
democracy is a federation with a good measure of federalism in it.
Throughout its history, Nigeria and
federalism has gone through different institutional guises.
But just before we continue further, I wanna remind you that we have a number of
readings on Nigeria available for you from the journal Regional and Federal Studies.
In this video lecture, we won't be able to cover each and
every relevant aspect of Nigerian federalism.
So please make sure to read these articles in order to acquire a more advanced level
of knowledge.
At the moment, the Federal Republic of Nigeria has 36 regional states and
the federal capital Abuja.
But throughout it's history, Nigeria has tried other forms of federalism before.
Nigeria's origins as a country could be traced back to the provinces created by
the British colonial authorities.
The territory comprising present-day Nigeria was governed mostly
through the system of indirect rule.
Where local traditional leaders were coopted into the British colonial
system leading to a varied and a symmetrical system of governments.
Indirect rule did not bring genuine territorial autonomy to the regions,
instead traditional authorities were coopted into the system.
Because colonial authorities themselves lacked the political and
infrastructural capacity to govern directly and
they needed the cooperation and the collaboration of the locals.
Nonetheless, the acknowledgement and
recognition of the legitimacy of traditional authorities during colonial
times ensured the continuity of these institutions into modern times.
Anyway, the three colonial provinces were brought together
in the form of a federal union in 1954.
Following independence in 1960,
the country slid into a civil war as the Eastern Region declared independence.
The war ended with the country intact, but
the number of regional units increased from 3 to 12 to prevent
polarization between the three dominant regions of the country.
In 1976, the number of regional states went up to 19, in 1991,
it went up to 30 and most recently in 1996, it went up to 36 regional states.
Ethiopia and South Africa are also countries that have gone through momentous
political design in the 1990s.
But Nigeria's successive ways of institutional and
constitutional redesign going back to the 1950s, puts the country
in a league of its own, in terms of redesigning its own constitutions.
The country has gone through different institutional guises of federalism.
In an attempt to find the best balance between unity and
autonomy, between unity and diverse.
The current institutional set up of the Nigerian Federation is just like
South Africa and Ethiopia also a product of the 1990s.
The end of the military rule in 1996 ushered in a speedy transition
from authoritarianism into democratic rule.
Now let's have a very quick look at the set up that was created.
The House of Representatives is the directly elected lower house of
the parliament where Nigerians are represented on a one citizen,
one vote system.
The Senate is composed of regional state representatives.
At the moment,
there are two opposing political parties facing each other in nationwide terms.
But these parties themselves are amalgamations and
coalitions of smaller political groups and interests.
Besides, they have strengths in different parts of the country.
During the recent March 2015 elections, political power,
particularly the country's presidency changed hands from one party to another.
This successful and
largely peaceful transition certifies Nigeria as Africa's biggest democracy.
Of course not everything is perfect, but
one should not underestimate how much Nigeria's democratic and
peaceful change of government is a lesson for the entire continent.
There are some 200 Language communities in Nigeria, but
they are not all of the same size.
The three big, that is the Igbo, Yoruba and the Hausa and
Fulani each make up about 20% of the population.
In very, very basic terms, the North is mostly Hausa and Falini and mostly Muslim.
The South is mostly Yoruba and
mostly Christian, while the Southeast is mostly Igbo and mostly Christian.
While other communities of various sizes live in between.
But of course these are very, very general terms as the country itself
is defined by a bewildering degree of ethno-linguistic diversity.
There are hundreds of language communities spread over 36 regional states.
So in ethno-linguistic terms, Nigeria is indeed a federal society and
the territorially based societal divisions are underscored
by the geography of this vast and diverse land.
The geographic divisions themselves are underscored
by the different economic activities.
The North of the country relies on a great deal of livestock herding,
while the traditional economic activities of the Southern Delta Region
have now given way to large scale oil extraction.
When different economic activities define different geographic regions, inevitably
this uncodified patterns sweep into the workings of federalism as well.
Nigeria's federal society is reflected in the so-called federal principle
adopted in 1979.
The federal principle aims to use Nigeria's federal society as the basis for
the composition of its national and regional bureaucracies.
Accordingly, the country's ethnic, linguistic, religious and
geographic diversity is supposed to be reflected in its public services.
You'll probably remember that during model three we had discussed the question of
regional representation in national bureaucracies.
And we had mentioned how for a number of reasons, formal strict ethnic quotas
did not always bring about effective and workable solutions.
What happens in the Nigerian cases that the quotas in appointments
based on the federal principle
often disenfranchises those who might lack roots in the appropriate regional state.
And this brings us back to a theme we have been visiting
quite a few times in this course before.
On the one hand, we have the corporate representation of collective groups.
And on the other, we have individual rights and freedoms across jurisdictions.
Federalism is inherently a non-majoritarian system of
democracy based on the corporate representation of collective groups and
not a simple one citizen, one vote system.
The Federal principle is an example of group-rights trumping individual-rights.
Regional states have a number of policies favoring the ethnic,
linguistic and cultural rights of their indigenous peoples
at the expense of other individuals who might lack such local roots.
Here, we have to acknowledge that federalism's promise to bring peaceful and
workable coexistence among communities.
And its emphasis on group identity could sometimes cause frustration for
otherwise, well qualified individuals who lack the prerequisite regional roots.
And this brings us back, to what was discussed in the overview of model two.
Federalism is not about solving ethno-linguistic divisions,
it's about managing them by legitimizing dissent and disagreement.
And this comes with an inevitable dose of frustration for all of those involved.
Especially when we are talking about hundreds of ethno-linguistic communities.
Throughout its turbulent history since independence, Nigeria has been searching
for a federal institutional setup that can best reflect and
accommodate its various social divisions.
Around 190 million Nigerian citizens belonging to 200 different
ethno-linguistic communities creates a federal society par excellence,
which then makes federalism necessary.
But what type of a federation?
That has been a long going search.
But they're interesting comparative lessons for
the literature of federalism and decentralization here.
The country has sought successive phases
of federal institutional redesign as a solution to its problems.
Consequently, new constitutions have replaced old ones.
But after all the constitutional,
institutional changes the country has gone through, there seems to be little
long-term impact on the persisting societal divisions in the country.
Despite the various federal prescriptions the country has taken over the years.
And despite the breakneck speed of recent economic growth and
social change, there's also been a remarkable degree of continuity.
Now this is perhaps a hint to temper our faith in institutional engineering.
I'll see you in the next video, that is gonna be our overview, bye.
