Using historicdescriptive 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. Hence the question is whether ethnicity is a natural order of things or a social construct. Department of political science, university of ilorin, nigeria. Ethnicity, ethnic conflict, peace education, social justice, sustainable development 1. The concept refers to a social identity formation that rests upon culturally specific practices and unique set of symbols and cosmology. While the magnitude of electoral malpractices differed from country to country, nigeria has had a tough time organising.
Nigeria is a multiethnic and culturally diverse society that has witnessed conflicts arising from this ethnic and cultural diversity. It is important to know how cultural norms and gender roles, which vary by ethnicity, may promote or prevent risky behaviour. The strength of ethnicity in voting behaviour in the 2015. The political culture in nigeria is characterized by intolerance, intimidation, thuggery, assassination, bitterness, apathy, indolence, money and ethnic politics. Ethnicity, gender and risky sexual behaviour among. Ethnicity and political behaviour of nigerians in the 2015. Abstract this study is conducted to measure the influence of media over the voting behavior of electorates. The burgeoning field of gender and political behavior shows that the way in which ordinary citizens connect to the democratic process is gendered. Ethnicity for example is considered a social construct king, 2002.
This is approved for students in accountancy, business, computer science, economics, engineering, arts. Note that this definition refers to skin coloroften seen as a key characteristic of race in western democracies. The chapter begins with a brief historical overview of nigeria and its challenge of ethnic, regional, and religious conflict. Since the third wave of democratisation hit africa in the early 1990s, elections in africa has been anything but free and fair. No work is deemed scholarly that does not consider the salience or. Ethnicity and political behaviour of nigerians in the 2015 general elections iwok, u. The above essay has discussed which factors, affecting voting behaviour, are more important than others. Material inducement does not influence voter behaviour in.
Overall, all the factors affecting voting behaviour are no more important than the next. Get free research paper on the effect of social media on voting behaviour a case study of some selected voters project topics and materials in nigeria. Ethnicity and electoral behaviour in nigeria nnabuihe. Money politics and analysis of voting behaviour in nigeria. Investigate whether ethnicity and religion affects citizens participation and voter behaviour in nigeria. Theories of political behavior, as an aspect of political science, attempt to quantify and explain the influences that define a persons political views, ideology, and levels of political participation. The nature of nigerian politics has always been premised on primordial factors that keep defining who gets what, how and when. The result of the first and second republics and their voting patterns have been mapped using the results of these elections to determine the ethnic colouration of. Erdmann 2007 concludes that ethnicity provides the basic social cleavage for voting behaviour and the formation of. Introduction the vilification of ethnicity as the scapegoat of all vices associated with the nigerian body polity has made the subject a dominant theme in the study of nigerian political economy. Beyond ethnicity, identity in nigeria is also derived from class and religion. Influence of ethnicity and religion in nigerian elections. In conclusion, no one factor is important than the other and they all have a significant role in voting behaviour.
In nigeria, on the contrary, homosexuality is frowned at. Patterns of political perceptions, attitudes and voting behaviour. Ethnic voting behaviour and voting patterns in nigeria s 2015 presidential election and implications for institutionalisation of social conflicts article pdf available may 2019 with 186 reads. Apart from ethnicity and religion, other issues that determine political behaviour and voting pattern of electorates in nigeria include rigging of elections, prebendelism, manipulation and political violence. We therefore lack a measure of ethnic voting that is reflective of all significant parties and ethnic groups.
It is particularly obvious in areas like voting, distribution of political offices, employment and government general patronage of the citizens. In the spirit of indirect rule, the major administrative and political units of nigeria were made to coincide with the spatial locations of the three major ethnic groups. The importance, effect, causes, relationship, comparison, history, role, solutions are discussed. Ethnicity, race, and support for minority group interests. Ethnicity and electoral behaviour in nigeria pdf paperity. Voting is the main form of political participation in liberal democratic societies and voting or voter behaviour in the context of this work, is the attitude, perception, action, of an eligible voter in votingnot voting and how and why such decision was made.
Ethnicity has been described a social group that shares a common and distinctive culture, religion and language. Ethnicity is commonly defined as a set of descentbased individual characteristics that are either difficult or impossible to change, such as skin color, nationality, or primary language chandra, 2004, 2006. Ethnicity, politics, religious introduction nigeria became independent in 1960. Thus, most businessmen join the party in power, thus ake 1985a puts it, power is everything and those who control the coercive resources use it freely to promote their interests. Election, money politics, votebuying, voting behaviour, nigeria introduction money politics, votebuying and voting behaviour have been topics of interest to many writers and scholars in the history of nigerian democracy due to the devastating impacts of the phenomenon on the body polity. In the already pluralized society of nigeria it is not an exception. Culture is one of those imperceptible elements defining the identity of a people. A study of 2015 presidential election article pdf available october 2017 with 12,226 reads how we measure reads. Factors affecting voting behaviour linkedin slideshare. In addition to ethnicity, religious identity is also important in nigeria. This paper tried to give a historical discourse about the relationship between ethnicity and voting behavior using nigeria as its case study.
Managing ethnic and cultural diversity for national. Ethnicity and religion have considerable influence on the voting. A major contributing factor to this reality could be attributed to. Ethnicity, voting pattern, general elections, lagos state. Understanding voters behavior can explain how and why decisions were made either by public decisionmakers, which has been a central concern for political scientists, or by the electorate.
Voting behaviour and the influence of social protection. Voter turnout, voting behavior and democratic consolidation in nigeria by professor sakah saidu mahmud kwara state university, malete 1. Nigeria, have passed through the tunnel of crisis emanating from intercultural and religious conflicts. Introduction nigeria as one of the developing countries in the world is one of the countries where ethnic pluralism is well pronounced. Ethnic conflict and sustainable development in nigeria. Political parties, citizen participation and voter behaviour in africa. Influence of media umbreen javaid university of punjab, lahore. Ethnncity and electoral behaviour in nigeria ethnicity involves the common consciousness of shared origin and tradition among a group of people iain mclean, 1996. Nigeria and the recently concluded 2015 general elections. Ethnicity is not the only significant marker in kenyan politics, and to be able to give good answers to such questions the causal mechanisms behind kenyan electoral behaviour must be addressed. Party affiliation does not affect voter behaviour in nigeria.
For example, homosexuality is an acceptable way of life in some countries such as england, usa, canada and some other western countries. Ethnicity, religion, and demographic behavior in nigeria. University of johannesburg conducted a study on voting behaviour and the influence of social protection in three disadvantaged communities in 20. Van evra cited in hale, 2004 states that ethnic groups are formed and once formed they tend to strongly endure. The paper examines the nature of political participation and voting behavior in nigerias 2015 general elections. Objectives of the study the general aim of this paper is to examine the nature of the 2015 presidential election and the major factors that made the outcome of the election different from the previous presidential elections in the country. Broadly speaking, behavior is political whenever individuals or groups. This is a considerable limitation because ruling parties, which usually need to have multiethnic support in order to gain power, are likely to be more ethnically diverse than opposition parties. Abstract ethnicity is a dominant force which continues to play an important role in determining the political behaviour of nations of the world.
In some colonial territories, for instance nigeria, the strategy of decolonization gave impetus to political ethnicity. The country, from all indications, has not attained her set targets of unifying the diverse ethnic groups in virtually all facetssocially, economically, politically among others. The boundaries of the formerly english colony were drawn to serve commercial interests, largely without. Race, ethnicity, and political behavior oxford research. This affects voting behaviour of the electorates and one can never imagine doing away with the influence of religion in nigerian election. Pdf the need for political stability and virile democratic culture in nigeria is a. To interpret voting behavior both political science and psychology expertise were necessary and therefore the field of political psychology emerged including. Patterns of political perceptions, attitudes and voting. Introduction in a statement on the 2015 nigerian general elections the freedom house 2015a congratulated nigerians for an election that. Ethnicity and voting behaviour in nigeria customwritings. In contemporary elections, women tend to support leftist parties more than.
Political parties, citizen participation and voter. The british imperialist manipulated the electoral introducing regional political parties in nigerian. Output 28 is the ethnicity, language and culture dimension. It describes the character of a community, and influences the attitudes and behaviour of the people. The resurgence of voting pattern along ethnic identities during the 2015 presidential election never took an average nigerian by surprise. Pdf political behaviour and voting pattern in nigeria. At the same time, countries vary substantially in the size of these gender gaps. Ethnicity is an important sociocultural factor mediating sexual behaviour in subsaharan africa 16, 17 and some studies have concluded that ethnicity may be more important than socioeconomic characteristics 1820. On the study of ethnicity in nigeria by ukoha ukiwo 1. Voting without choosing kialee nyiayaana 85 and rationalist perspectives is more appropriate in explaining how an incumbent president was defeated in power in the 2015 presidential election in nigeria without a fundamental shift in ethnic voting behaviour and voting patterns.
Between ethnicity, nationality and development in nigeria. Investigate whether ethnicity and religion affects citizens participation. While studies in demography and public health have acknowledged the role of ethnic differences, the influence of ethnicity on youth sexual behaviour in nigeria has received little or no attention. In all political activities in nigeria, the factor of ethnicity is reflected. Pdf nigerias 2015 presidential election was widely seen as competitive, fair and less violent than other elections since the transition to.
The paper examines the ethnic colouration in the voting pattern of nigerians during the election. There are reasons to believe that socioeconomic policies and. The paper adopts the secondary methodology, which in the parlance suggests a. Ethnicity, voter behaviour and resurgence of separatists. The two urban communities of doornkop and riverlea in johannesburg and a rural farming area in groblersdal in limpopo were selected for the study. Do you see ethnicity as a threat to national unity in nigeria. The survey results indicate that ethnicity or ethnopolitical identity matters but certainly not the only factor that accounts for election outcomes. Ethnic politics and its implications for the survival of. Rakov, vassar college 92 english 32, fall 1990 the ethnicity of nigeria is so varied that there is no definition of a nigerian beyond that of someone who lives within the borders of the country ukpo, p. Gender differences in voting behavior and participation rates persist across democracies.
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