The Illusion of a Euro-American Partnership in Development with Africa

Abstract

The paper examines the impact of the global financial crisis which started in the United States, spreading to Europe, then Asia and now in Africa and its impact on the democratization process in Nigeria. Nigeria in 2009 was ranked the 15th most failed state in the world by the foreign policy online annual index. How will the global financial crisis affect the country’s process of democratization that is already low by international standards? The paper argues that the financial crisis will have a negative effect on the democratization process. The reduced incomes to the government, the private sector of the economy and the citizens will put economic pressure on civil society. This will increase demands by citizens from a government with reduced financial capacity translating into disaffection of the citizenry; which will in turn affect the quality of civil society input into the political process. It is the position of this paper that the global financial crisis will impact negatively on Nigeria’s democratization process, but the paper concludes that the Nigerian state can transcend the global financial crisis and push forward in its democratic process if it adheres to the recommendations.