Transitional Democracy in Emerging Societies, A Comparative Analysis between Taiwan and Nigeria

Abstract

It has been a quarter-century since when both Taiwan and Nigeria achieve civilian rule in 1996 and 1999 respectively. Nigeria experienced a setback by men in uniform amidst a beautiful beginning of its existence, and lasted for tens of years. Perhaps, the story is not much different from the rest of the African nations. Similarly, for decades, Taiwan encountered serious political turmoil, in fact, a crisis under a dominant overarching power of one party system. My research investigates democratic transition in Taiwan and Nigeria on a comparative basis. Nevertheless, the study proposes to examine some of the major factors that caused and brought about the transition as a living experience in these two different economies. This study will however, try to compare the political transitional process in these nations and its effects to the lives of their respective citizens and to the region they belong to. Egregious political legitimacy of absolutism in both Taiwan and Nigeria in pre-1990s generates direct reflection of democratization in these two emerging economies. The study concludes that the revolutionary wave that opens a new beginning in the European history, followed by the fall of Berlin Wall, lifting the Iron Curtain only to record the end of the Cold War, ousting communist regimes across Eastern Europe were among other forces that propelled democratic transition to replace tyranny with democratically elected leaderships in many parts of the world including in Taiwan and Nigeria.