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Disguised Tourism and the Electoral Process in Africa: A Study of International Observers and the 1998 Local Government Elections in Nigeria

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 August 2021

Kayode Soremekun
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Extract

This article is based on the premise that the aid establishment views Africa as probably the world’s last backwater. Simply put, bureaucrats, politicians, and other policymakers in the western world are rather content with Africa’s present status, an attitude that not only accords with their career aspirations, but also spawns a certain amount of sybaritic pleasure about the inclement condition of the continent. It is against this background that this article examines the motives and aspirations of the international observers in the Nigerian electoral process, focusing on the attitudes and the impact of the observers in the 1998 local government elections.

International electoral observation and monitoring are an integral part of the global dimensions of democratization. Many writers have averred that one major reason for the upswing in Africa’s quest to democratize is the cessation of the power play between Moscow and Washington.

Type
Part 1
Information
African Issues , Volume 27 , Issue 1 , 1999 , pp. 26 - 28
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1999 

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References

Notes

1. For details, see McCoy, Jennifer, Garber, Larry, and Pastor, Robert, “Pollwatching and Peacemaking,” Journal of Democracy 2, no. 4 (fall 1991): 102–114 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

2. Joseph, Richard, “Africa, 1990-1997, From Abertura to Closure,” Journal of Democracy 9, no. 2 (April 1998): 3–17 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

3. See details of the Carter Center/NDI report in Crossroads (U.S. Information Service, Lagos, Nigeria) 5, no. 1 (January 1999).

4. The Guardian (Lagos, Nigeria), December 12, 1998.

5. The Guardian (Lagos, Nigeria), January 10, 1999.

6. The Guardian (Lagos, Nigeria), January 8, 1999.

7. Carter Center/NDI report.

8. The Guardian (Lagos, Nigeria), December 15, 1998.

9. Diamond, Larry, “The 1983 General Elections,” in Nigeria ‘s Second Republic: Presidentialism, Politics and Administration in a Developing State, eds., Ayeni, Victor and Soremekun, Kayode (Lagos, Nigeria: Daily Times Publications, 1998)Google Scholar.

10. Marina Ottaway, “Should Elections Be the Sole Criterion of Democratization in Africa?” CSIS Africa Notes, no. 145 (February 1993).