Influences of Regional Diffusion of Democratic Strategies in Nigeria from Neighbouring African States

Regional imitation is a propensity aimed at neighbouring nations to meet toward a common level of democratic political development. One can understand how such a propensity exists by concentrating on a diffusion element that analyses the hypothetically anticipated outcome of electoral management policies in these neighbouring nations. Research on Nigeria’s democracy exist however, concentrated exclusively on domestic phenomenon and factors such as socio-cultural cleavages, overlooking the likely external influence of international norms, and regional diffusion of democratic strategies from neighbouring African states. This study examines the influences of regional diffusion of democratic strategies on Nigeria’s democratic development, through a qualitative process of data collection and analysis. The study concludes that, regional diffusion of democratic strategies from successful wave of democratic transition to opposition parties against the then incumbent ruling political parties in African countries, such as Senegal, Mauritius, Ghana, Uganda, Malawi and Mali has motivated people and institutions in Nigeria to emulate the development there. Particularly, strong adherence to the rule of law by political actors, independence and integrity of the legal system, and provision of efficient civic and voter education have greatly motivated and influenced the change in Nigeria’s democratic development strategies.

区域效仿（Regional imitation）是一种行为倾向，即各国以周边国家为参照，旨在达成趋同的民主政治发展水平。我们可通过聚焦扩散分析维度来理解这一倾向的成因：该维度会推演分析周边国家选举管理政策的预期效果。然而，现有针对尼日利亚民主制度的研究仅聚焦于国内现象与社会文化分化等因素，却忽视了国际规范的潜在外部影响，以及非洲邻国民主战略的区域扩散效应。本研究通过定性数据收集与分析方法，探讨民主战略的区域扩散对尼日利亚民主发展的影响。本研究得出结论：在塞内加尔、毛里求斯、加纳、乌干达、马拉维、马里等非洲国家的成功民主转型浪潮中，民主战略从这些国家向对抗当时执政党的反对党扩散，这一现象激励了尼日利亚的民众与各类机构效仿这些国家的发展模式。具体而言，政治行为体对法治的严格恪守、法律体系的独立与廉洁，以及高效的公民与选民教育，极大地推动并影响了尼日利亚民主发展战略的变革。