Fareed Zakaria's Democratic Sequentialism and Nigeria's Democratisation Process

Abstract

This essay will attempt to analyse the prospects for political and economic liberalisation and ultimately democracy in Nigeria by examining Fareed Zakaria's prescription of democratic sequentialism i.e, liberalism before democracy. Zakaria's argument was that due to cultural variation, different societies will require different systems of government and therefore recommended that a scattered kind of liberal democracy which accommodated some parts of democracy and constitutional liberalism may be appropriate for a particular society depending on its stage of liberalism and democratisation. The paper also examine some critique of Zakaria's theory by some other scholars and tries to capture the political reform programme towards consolidation of democracy in Nigeria, embarked upon by the Administration of President Obasanjo. The paper concluded that Zakaria's theoretical analysis was not sufficient to explain Nigeria's march towards democracy consolidation between 1999 and 2007 and recommended areas where the international community can support Nigeria's effort to consolidate democracy.