DEMOCRATISATION AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF NIGERIA AND SOUTH KOREA, 1999 TO 2009

📄 Project Abstract

The link between democratisation and national development has been a matter of intense debate in the political economy literature. The contention on whether or not democratisation is the best option for the attainment of national development will continue to agitate the minds of social science scholars. Scholars viewed the relationship between democratisation and economic development from different perspectives. For instance, Inglehart (1997:184) asserted that economic development leads to democracy, and not the other way round. It becomes, therefore, expedient to assert from this perspective that national economic development oils the process of democratisation. The implication is that economic development should be achieved under a seemingly authoritarian regime before contemplating democratisation. Commenting on the critical question of development particularly as it affects Africa, Ake (2003: 1) asserted that the problem is not so much that development has failed as that it was nev...