Examining Ligphart’s Favorable Conditions for Consociational Democracy in Nigeria

Abstract

The examination of favorable factors for establishing and maintaining consociational democracy is essential in order to assess the probability that consociational model will be successful in diverse societies. However, previous studies on Nigeria have not adequately dealt with these factors. So, attempt has been made on this paper to examine the absence or presence of those favorable factors for consociationalism in Nigeria. It was revealed that the country scored about 67% in these factors. So, the assessment of favorable factors appears to suggest that consociationalism could be realistic choice for Nigeria in managing its diversity.

Keywords: Favorable factors, Consociational democracy, Heterogeneous society, Federal Character, Nigeria