Olusesi Oluwole. There are fusillades of evidence all over Africa that Abraham Lincoln’s theorization of democracy being government of the people, by the people and for the people lacks contextual and practical synthesis in the African continent. While not advocating for interminable military dictatorship anywhere in the region, it is important to note that most African states have not been able to wriggle out of recumbent poverty – one of the central problems democracy should ameliorate. The overall essence of democracy is to ensure development governance through which people would be liberated from want to sustainable availability of material…
Author: CASADE
Ope Owotumi. In his 2015 State of The Union speech, President Barack Obama quipped “when what you’re doing for fifty years doesn’t work, it’s time to try something new”. It is this level of progressive-mindedness that endears the objective onlooker to American politics. It is shaped by the ever-changing times and the varied mentality of the people whose lives it governs. Their policy shifts- on homosexuality, marijuana use, military involvement, civil liberties, religion, free speech and even foreign policy- they are informed by the times. They are not informed by political bickering only, by disorganised sentiments or even…
John O. Ifediora. The 2008 recession was the first time since the great depression of the 1930s that developed nations, as a collectivity, felt the full effect of the medicine they have been prescribing to developing nations; and like the former recipients, they did not care much for it. The financial meltdown that began from the housing market bubble in the US, and spread to the industrialized world in quick succession laid bare the fundamental weaknesses of free and unregulated capital market, and international trade. Developing nations were spared the anguish, but for how long? But a decidedly relevant question…
The war on terror cannot be fought on a conventional battlefield where opposition forces fire at each other. National militaries that are trained on this form of warfare are now finding it increasingly difficult to engage amorphous enemies that are elusive, baseless, and can strike at will. This reality is not foreign to African militaries that have sought to engage militant insurgents, and ultimately realize that the enemy is ‘faceless,’ unidentifiable, and unwilling to engage the conventional rules of military combat. In this article David S. Maxwell shows why America, with the world’s most lethal military force at its disposal,…
Jake Okechukwu Effoduh. Introduction There is a common Igbo proverb that says: No elephant is burdened by the weight of its tusks. The current economic problem in our nation is often lamented and cursed as unendurable, as if it is peculiar to the nation alone. Similarly, the fiscal measures introduced by the government are looked upon as hindrances or impediments, which a few may consider as irrelevant and unnecessary impositions. Yet, to look back at our growing up problems as if they are burdens, which we must cast off immediately, or run away from, is to be superficial and…
Nigeria’s Presidential election set for next month promises to be all things to all voters and onlookers alike. One sure thing, however, is that it would be hard-fought, both by the candidates and party loyalists. Incumbency confers tremendous benefits to Mr. Jonathan, but barring shameless rigging, he deserves to lose the contest. Reasons for being sacked by the electorate abound: he was never a popular president but nonetheless stumbled into the presidency by default, and got elected for his first term in office principally through the political monopoly of his People’s Democratic Party (PDP); and in his watch the insurgency…
The Millennium Development Goals represent a well-meaning but extremely misguided attempt to assist emerging economies in their development efforts. The recognition by the industrialized and wealthy constituent countries of the UN that their developing counterparts are in dire need of assistance is the first step towards a meaningful strategy for a holistic development program. However, the next step in this endeavor has perennially proved difficult, for the simple reason that donor –countries, and lending institutions have consistently addressed the problem of underdevelopment, poverty, malnutrition, and debilitating diseases from two damaging policy approaches: one informed by charity, the other by the…
Godwin Haruna. China’s audacious incursions into Africa, which have manifested in its aid and economic investments in recent years, is among the most widely discussed aspects of its global rise. Although development theorists have credited China’s emergence as a global economic power with its homegrown development policies, its ambitious forays into Africa to push the frontiers of development is welcome, but also worrisome. With investments increasing ten-fold in the past few years, many reckon that China’s return to Africa arose from its identification of the continent as the future engine of global growth. However, controversy has continued to dot…
Sara E. Davies. Pandemics are for the most part disease outbreaks that become widespread as a result of the spread of human-to-human infection. Beyond the debilitating, sometimes fatal, consequences for those directly affected, pandemics have a range of negative social, economic and political consequences. These tend to be greater where the pandemic is a novel pathogen, has a high mortality and/or hospitalization rate and is easily spread. According to Lee Jong-wook, former Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), pandemics do not respect international borders.2 Therefore, they have the potential to weaken many societies, political systems and economies simultaneously. The…
Godwin Haruna. 2015 promises to be Nigeria’s best opportunity to upturn years of rapacious rape by a mindless political class. Across the world, this country is acknowledged correctly, as rich with enormous human, material and natural resources. However, a combination of rudderless leadership, humongous corruption and misplaced priorities have ruined the nation and reduced the mass of the people to paupers. The political class thrived feeding fat on the vulnerability of the hapless commoners, who constitute the overwhelming majority. The political elite dominated by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have been notorious in the squandering of the commonwealth because they…