The Role of Justice in an Ideal Democratic System: Nigeria as a Case Study

Abstract

The role of Justice in any democratic society cannot be over emphasized this is because it constitutes and makes the society docile for proper growth and development. Hence, it is a given that Justice and democracy are central ideals of a liberal political morality. Although vast bodies of literature have been devoted to each of them, their relation to one another has remained relatively under-explored. Nevertheless, Contemporary liberals agree that only democratic arrangements can be just, but disagree about why democracy matters: some believe its value is instrumental, others believe it is intrinsic. On the former view, democratic participation is not a requirement of justice, but a means of discovering, or implementing, its demands. On the latter, democracy is intrinsically just: it is part of any plausible articulation of justice itself. Hence, this paper argues that in the presence of thin reasonable disagreement about justice, we should value democracy only instrumentally (if at all); in the presence of deep reasonable disagreement about justice, we should value it also intrinsically, as a necessary demand of justice. Since the latter type of disagreement is pervasive in real- world politics. It pays particular attention to Nigerian society and how justice would imply an ideal democratic system.

Keywords: Justice, Democracy, Ideal System and Nigeria