ACHIEVER’S EDUCATION CONSULTANT

08141710097
SUMMARY OF POL126 WITH PAST QUESTIONS

Relevant text books including the ones listed under the unit.

Textbooks and References

Certain books have been recommended in the course. You may wish to purchase them for further
reading.

Assessment File

In the assessment file, you will find details of the works you must submit to your tutor for
marking. The marks you obtain in these two areas will make up your final marks. The
assignment must be submitted to your tutor for formal assessment in accordance with the
deadline stated in the presentation schedule and the assignment file. The work you submit to
your tutor for assessment will count for 30% of your total score.

Tutor-Marked Assignments

You will have to submit a specified number of the TMAs. When you have completed each
assignment, send it together with a Tutor-Marked Assignment form, to your tutor. Extensions
will not be granted after the due date unless in exceptional circumstances. Final Examination and
Grading The final examination will be a test of three hours.

All areas of the course will be examined. The final examination will attract 70% of the total
course grade. The examination will consist of questions which reflect the kinds of self
assessment exercise and tutor marked assignment you have previously encountered. And all
aspects of the course will be assessed.

Course Marking Scheme The following table lays out how the actual course mark allocation is
broken down.

[...]

You will be required to study the units on your own. However, you may arrange to meet with
your tutor for tutorials on an optional basis at the study centre. Also, you can organise interactive
sessions with your course mates. Tutors and Tutorials Information relating to the tutorials will be
provided at the appropriate time.

Your tutor will mark and comment on your assignments, keep a close watch on your progress
and on any difficulties you might encounter and provide assistance to you during the course. You
must take your tutor-marked assignments to the study centre well before the due date . They will
be marked by your tutor and returned to you as soon as possible. You should try your best to
attend the tutorials.

This is the only chance to have face-toface contact with your tutor and ask questions which are
answered instantly. You can raise any problem encountered in the course of your study. You will
learn a lot from participating in discussion actively. The course guide gives you an overview of
what to expect in the course of this study.

We wish you success with the course and hope that you will find it both interesting and useful.

How Sovereign Can a State be?

This unit ‘State in Political Analysis’ will examine what constitutes a State as well as its nature
and features in a political system. It is expected that after this unit, the student should become
familiar with the nature, features and functions of the state. explain how sovereign a state can be.

What is a State?

A political system consists of all the forces, processes, and institutions of a society which
generate effective demand and support inputs and attendant political cooperation or conflict
which are involved in the resolution of conflicts and the subsequent evolution of authoritative
political decisions. In other words, a political system is - “any persistent pattern of human
relationships that involves, to a significant extent, control, influence, power, or authority” . The
political role of ‘government institutions’ is to receive inputs from their social environment and
produces outputs to respond to the environment” . It is therefore through institutional
performance that societal demands are transformed into political action or devices for achieving
purposes.

It is clear that government evidently is an essential organ through which the state achieves its
moral duty and obligation to administer and render service to the citizens of the state. Rather, he
argues that the state is at the centre of continuous struggle with other organisations, over the right
and ability to make binding rules in society. The implication of this, in effect, is that the state
will be an inert entity without government at the centre of activity in the use and control of
political power. At this point, it is pertinent to know how the state will ensure fair play in a plural
society characterised, as it were, by diversities and inequalities.

The function of the state in ensuring fair play is couched in law which inevitably is the basis of
the modern state which must be called upon for the resolution of the inevitable conflict between
the social interests of the society and the individual selfish interests. This is because the rule of
law which differentiates the modern state from the feudal or traditional society specifically is a
system or at least a collectivity of norms or rules which have the object of regulating, and
therefore also of affecting the actions of man, including that of the state. The organs regarded
everyone as competent by to formulate and create binding legal norms in a domestic society such
as Nigeria is the National Assembly. This presupposition means that a state enjoys legitimacy
and authority derived not only from the democratic mandate but built on the traditional liberal
tradition of separation of legislative, executive and judiciary.
What do you understand by a State?

This feature is very important because governmental policies are not likely to be effective if the
rules are not obeyed. Also, if the stamp of authority behind law is lacking, in line with
government’s authority to enforce, then no effective authority will be produced. For instance, in
some societies people willingly/voluntarily comply with virtually all laws and force is really
exerted while in other societies governments rely heavily on coercion which is often
unsuccessful at times because of the resistance which they will encounter through riots and
demonstrations. In the Nigerian society, there is substantial disobedience because most people do
not comply with most laws most of the time.

Sovereignty This word derived from a Latin word ‘superamus’ which means supremacy. The
absolute and perpetual power of the state in its domestic use means the power and authority of
the state over all persons, things within its territory. In other words, sovereignty means that the
state has a general power of lawmaking and of the enforcement of laws.

Sovereignty’ key features are

From this example it appears Nigeria’s sovereignty has been limited to a certain extent. This is
not so. In the same way, world opinion for the safe acquittal of Amina Lawal in Katsina State
from the claws of Sharia propagandist did not in any way limit the country’s sovereignty in
handling domestic affairs. This is because the pre-requisite of political sovereignty leans on
economic sovereignty given that those who control the economy may probably control the
government.

So that decision about economic matters sometimes has to be taken with reference to external
body or in reference with external force. A sovereign state invests the authority of the state in
certain persons or groups of persons defined by law . These groups of persons differ from state to
state. In the United States of America sovereignty is distinguished between the president, the
congress and the Supreme Court, in Britain, it is between the Queen in parliament i.e. the
Queen, the Lords and commons, in Nigeria, it is with the president, national Assembly and
Supreme Court.

House

In effect, a government is legitimate if the people to whom its orders or directs believe that the
structure, procedures, acts, decisions, policies, officials, or leaders of government possess the
quality of ‘rightness”, propriety, or moral goodness- the right, in short, to make binding
rules. Such legitimacy can be attested to by decrees, enactments. Thus, leaders in a political
system try to endow their actions with legitimacy be it
feudalism, monarchy, oligarchy, hereditary aristocracy, plutocracy, representative government-
democracy so as to acquire legitimacy. In essence, when a leader is clothed with legitimacy, it
usually is referred to as authority with a special kind of legitimate influence.

The state is founded on some sort of society-wide consensus. This consensus may be based, for
instance, on a common nationality . In other words, the relationship between the influencer and
influenced can be sustained through agreement i.e. the agreement of one to be subjected to that
of another.

References/ Further Reading

Having looked at the nature of the state, this unit examines whether men have lived under some
form of political system previously and if they have, what factors necessitated the original
establishment of the state. Thus, the unit will examine the foundations of the state.

[...]

its rulers/leaders are divinely appointed hence are not accountable to any authority but God. The
justification for this proposition is in line with the specific injunction in the Bible that every soul
or body is subject unto the higher powers ordained of God who is most supreme. This position is
evidenced in the claims of certain rulers, like James I of England, who governed absolutely
without being accountable to their people. On the contrary, it is interesting, however, to note that
the view that the bad as well as the good ruler were the representatives of God and as such
entitled to unconditional obedience.

The long continuance of that state, an incident common among savage tribes, inured the people
to submission” . The basic argument by Hume is that consequent upon the increase of population
and the consequent pressure on the means of subsistence invariably there would be also an
improvement in the art of warfare. It is therefore in this light that he conceived that a state is
founded when a leader, with his band of warriors, gets permanent control of a definite territory of
a considerable size.

This may occur in one of two ways

When the leader, after firmly establishing his or her position as ruler of his/her own
tribe, extends his/her authority over neighbouring tribes until he or she comes to rule over a large
territory. A state is founded by successful migrations and conquests. This was the history of the
Normans, ‘who, in the ninth century, became the ruling power in Russia. In Nigeria, we have the
cases of the conquests of the Sakkwato Conquests of Hausa Speaking lands in the North.

Expectedly, the new type of community founded by consolidation or by migration and conquest
in order words differed from the tribes because of their territorial character. The understanding
here therefore is that all those who live within the territory of the ruler were bound to obey
his/her commands. This theory like others has also been criticized not only on the claim that
force is a factor in the formation of a state but rather as an element like various causes such as
kinship, religion, force and political consciousness.

Literature has it that the greatest supporter of this group is Sir Henry Maine who in his
books Ancient Law and Early History of Institutions stated that he derived his evidence
from three sources which are
It must be emphasized therefore that the patriarchal society which, according to this theory, was
the foundation of the modern state, was characterised by three features, viz. The system of
permanent marriage though exists as a social institution, however, it has been argued that it must
not be assumed that marriage as we understand it-the permanent union of one man with one
woman-was a feature of all patriarchal society. This argument stems from other evidence which
suggests that in some societies the patriarchal family was a later development from the
matriarchal system, in which descent could be traced only through the female on account of the
existence of polyandry. Its merit is that as an explanation of the origin of the state, it emphasises
one essential element in the making of the state, viz.

A distinguishing feature of this theory from the patriarchal theory is the fact that the matriarchal
theory holds that the primitive group had no common male head, and that kinship among them
could be traced only through the woman. It is important to highlight Jenks illustrative
proposition from primitive society in.

Australia which posits that

The Australian may not marry within his totem. “Snake may not marry snake. The other side of
the rule is equally startling. The savage may not marry within his totem, but he must marry into
another totem specially fixed for him.

Rather, it conceived the state coming into existence as the result of natural evolution. The
primitive man had implicit faith in the existence of spirits, the spirits of the dead and the spirits
of nature. The medicine-man or woman, professing ability to control them by means of his/her
sorcery, naturally came to be regarded with mysterious awe and acquired unique influence. At
this point, the student would have seen so far the point we have made about war and migration as
important influences in the origin of the state.

The point at issue is that the demands of constant warfare often led to the rise of permanent
headship. This continuity of war conduced to the permanence of leadership. Accordingly, war
and conquest helped to give the mark of territoriality to the state. Indeed, Aristotle could be said
to be stating a fact when he said ‘man is by nature a political animal’.

Man knows instinctively that he/she can develop the best of which he/she is capable only by
some form of political organisation. Explain the developments that led to the force theory.

[...]

Having looked at the history of the state it would be appropriate to examine the consolidation of
the modern state through the various theories of the modern state such as the theory of the State
of Nature and Social Contract, The Organic Theory, Liberal-Democratic Theory and the Marxist
Theory. The essence here is not just to indulge in blanket statements about the theory and nature
of the state but to see which of them provides more insight into the analysis of Citizen and State
relations in perspective within the Nigerian context.

What is a Theory?
By so doing, we are enabled to understand or find out what’s, how’s, and why’s of the causes
and consequences of irregularities discernible in the citizen’s rights and obligations in the socio-
political context of a state that require transformation for the better.

In political discussions which are of relevance to us in this course two forms of the theory of
social contract which became significant during and after the Middle Ages are

This idea was largely employed by the defenders of popular liberties in the Middle Ages to resist
the claims of rulers to an absolute dominion over their subjects. In other words, the idea borders
on deposing a ruler when s/he had violated the agreement or pact to promote a happy life
according to which he or s/he was chosen. The consent to part with their liberty is subject to a
consensus having lived in a state of nature without a coercive agency. In sum, the essential idea
to note is that the state is a human creation as a result of a contractual agreement between men
and women.

Now let us consider the theory as developed by its most famous exponents, Hobbes, Locke and
Rousseau, during the later half of the 17c and in the 18c.

Hobbes

This inclination was natural at a time when the most important need of his country was a strong
government to maintain law and order. This background shaped the government of his political
inquiry by his analysis of human nature in the conception of man as being essentially selfish who
is moved to action not by intellect or reason, but by appetites, desires and passions. The
summation is that the state of nature is none other than a society where men lived without any
common power set over them. In line with the fulfilling of this right, a state is thus created.

The government must be sovereign, and the sovereign’s power absolute, for, a. The sovereign’s
power is not held ‘on condition’ since the sovereign is the result of the pact, not a party to it. The
pact is not revocable at the pleasure of the subjects c. The anti-social instincts of men are too
insistent to be checked except by absolute authority.

From the above analysis, it is clear that sovereignty is inalienable, for it is essential to civil
government that there should be no power in the state strong enough to the sovereign. The
sovereign is judge of what is necessary for the peace and defence of his subjects and judge of
what doctrines are fit to be taught. The contention is that ‘Civil law is to every subject those rules
which the Commonwealth hath commanded him by word, writing or other sufficient sign of the
will to make use of for the distinction of right and wrong. Those rights which the sovereign has
permitted.

Those rights which by law of nature, of self-preservation, cannot be surrendered. In general, the
obligation of the subjects to the sovereign lasts no longer than his power to protect them. As for
other liberties, they depend on the silence of the law with the subject being free to do what the
sovereign has not prohibited. The failure to realise that the principle involved in absolute
sovereignty is wrong.
This is because it does not tell whether the rights recognised by a state are the rights which need
recognition, or why other rights do not deserve legal recognition. Explain your understanding of
Hobbes social contract theory as well as its critique. Locke The purpose of Locke in his Two
Treaties of Government was to justify the English Revolution of 1688 after James II had been
deposed from the throne and William or Orange invited to occupy it. The want of power to back
and support the sentence when right and to give it due execution.

To this end, government is seen to be in the nature of a trust and in this way only such powers as
were transferred at the time of the change from a state of nature is embraced. It becomes
essential therefore that the legislative power constituted by the consent of the people should not
be arbitrary but become the supreme power in the commonwealth. In order words, it must be
exercised, as it is given, for the good of the subjects. To this effect, the Legislature must dispense
justice through laws and authorised judges.

This ensures that no man can be deprived of his/her property without his/her consent nor can
taxes be levied without the consent of the people or their representatives. This conclusion by
Locke was determined by distinguishing between the agreement to form a civil society and the
agreement within that society to set up some particular government. In effect, if the acts of that
government are contrary to the interests of the community as a whole Locke argues that there is a
possibility of changing the government without destroying the continuity of civil society
itself. His position that the cardinal idea that government is a trust with consent as the basis of
government cannot be overlooked.

Also, there is value in his concept of natural rights now generally discredited because of his
conception of it as the rights of the individual anterior to organised society.

Contrat Social is important on two grounds

First, it inspired the French Revolution of 1789 which was a revolt against the despotic French
monarchy. This contract supposedly is a form of association which protects the person and
property of each associate according to the virtue of which every one while remaining free as
before’. The sovereignty of the community is as absolute just as the Government in Hobbes is
implying that from the outset there was no need to limit its sovereignty in the interest of the
subjects. The reason for this is none other than that the sovereign body is always all that it ought
to be having been formed by only the individuals who constitute it.

In effect, the sovereign, who is a collective being, can be represented only by himself. The
Government is never the same as the sovereign because of their distinguished functions of the
executive and the legislative functions as well as the fact that the exercise of government is the
exercise according to the law of the executive power. That the complete surrender of rights on
the part of the natural man makes sovereignty absolute while for Locke there is no absolute
sovereignty because the surrender is partial. The popular sovereignty in Rousseau is in continual
exercise while for Locke the supremacy of the people is not in the fore front and is only
manifested when the Government acts contrary to its trust.
There is only one contract, the social pact thereby expunging the idea of a governmental
compact from the contract theory

The implication of this is that government depends on the consent of the governed. His idea that
the sovereign community was logically the only lawmaker subsequently had the indirect effect of
stimulating direct legislation by the people through the referendum and the initiative. Another
important issue to note is that despite the importance of Rousseau in political thought, a
particular inadequacy cannot be overlooked in political analysis. The obvious inadequacy is none
other that his analysis did not envisage the fact that the unrestricted power of the general will
might result in absolutism typical of the older kingdoms and oligarchies.

Merits of the Social Contract Theory The theory has some merits such as

It serves as a reminder to Government of the human purposes which the State can serve so as to
justify its existence. In line with Locke and Rousseau’s idea that civil society rests not on the
consent of the ruler but of the ruled the theory instituted what subsequently became an important
factor in the development of modern democracy.

Despite its merits the theory has some defects

The premise of this conviction is based on the regard that the State and its institutions were
instituted as a result of the individual will. To this end, it can be argued that there can be
sufficient authority if the individual will is contradicted. This point was better stressed in Burke’s
famous description of the State as an institution that ought not to be considered as nothing better
than a partnership agreement. As the ends of such a partnership cannot be obtained in many
generations, it becomes a partnership not only between those who are living, but between those
who are dead, and those who are to be born.

That the assumptions by almost all exponents of the theory argue that men in a state of nature are
equal is incorrect. This position is hinged on the German jurist von Haller conception that
inequality, rather than equality, is natural. This consists in the fact that the civil society which is
simply ‘a form of social organisation in which persons function as mere individuals or social
atoms who happen to come together to satisfy their natural or acquired needs through some mode
of exchange” is divisive while the state is a source of harmony. In effect, with the state as a
rational order, it should be able to ‘differentiate between the forces that are socially cohesive and
forces that are socially disruptive”.

Thus, for Hegel, while conflicts and their resolutions may be inevitable features of the modern
world, the state exists to minimise these conflicts and maximise cohesion. This theory is of the
view that the state, therefore, is a “reconciling realm” where the individual freedom is
harmonised with the interest of the universal.

State the basic features of this theory as well as its glaring differences and similarities?

To Karl Marx, the state is, essentially, a coercive apparatus which is usually in the service of the
ruling class in a class-divided society, and it is a “product and manifestation” of irreconcilable
class antagonisms in society. In the Communist Manifesto, Karl Marx and Frederick Engels
wrote that “the executive of the modern state is built on a committee for managing the common
affair of the whole bourgeosie”. This contention aptly captures the class basis of the state and as
an instrument of dominating other classes even though within classical Marxism, there is the
conception of the state as independent, though rooted in the economic basis of society. In the
Eighteenth Brummaire of Louis Bonaparte, K. Marx aptly explains this independent nature of the
state using the revolutionary events in France evidenced in the industrial action of the
bourgeoisie revolution which led to the overthrow of financial oligarchy.

With the crushing of the democratic forces by the industrial bourgeoisie and the events leading to
the rise of Louis Bonaparte as Marx notes, under the second Bonaparte, ‘the state seemed to have
made itself completely independent”. In other words, there emerged the independent character of
the state. Consequently, it exists in every class society and “consists not only of armed men but
also of material adjuncts, prisons and institutions of coercion of all kinds. The state divides its
subject on the basis of territory unlike the clan or tribal organisations which divide their people
according to blood relationship.

This territorial feature means that the state has boundaries that are inviolable i.e. it cannot be
violated. The territorial division of the population will encourage economic ties as well as the
political conditions of their regulation. The above Marxist features of the state further undermine
the Marxist methodological principle/framework of the materialist interpretation of history. This
history stresses the reciprocal link between the substructures of society i.e. the modes of
production and its corresponding production relations-and the superstructure of society.

Basic Elements of Marxist Theory The state as a political power is not inevitable since
eventually it would cease to exist. This important position is rooted in the fact that the state did
not exist in the earlier periods of development of the society when the mode of production was
very rudimentary and undifferentiated, no division in the social conditions, except between the
two sexes, no division of society into categories of rulers and ruled, therefore there were no
antagonistic classes. Instead, “social relations were regulated by the force of habit, custom and
tradition embodying common life and work. This came to be because of the development of the
means of production e.g. in agriculture, domestic craft etc, so that human labour can produce
more than necessary for its maintenance.

This brings to bear the fact that the state contrary to Hegelian position does not reconcile the
antagonistic classes in society. Instead, it maintains existing socio-political relations in any class-
divided society, so as to preserve the hegemony of one class over another. The character of the
state and the type of “order” it maintains in any given society will be determined by the nature of
its socioeconomic formation.

What are the basic features and elements of this theory?

This is because it is not only more rigorous in its analysis of the state but also provides a
materialist foundation to the factional struggle and lack of unity within the Nigerian ruling
class. The utility of Marxist theory is that it is more effective or useful, for example, in
reminding us of the material underpinnings of social and political processes, in analyzing
inequality and the ways in which systems of exploitation and hegemony reproduces themselves
amid changing circumstances. The unit examined what a theory is, the theory of the State
through the salient arguments by Locke, Hobbes and Rousseau.

Pre-Colonial Period: Exploring the Primordial Communities

This is because some societies had ‘organised’ political entities while many political entities had
not evolved any above their lineage. This is because the heterogeneous nature of the
societies/groups as well as the complexity of developing collective identities will not make it
easy to achieve uniformity of political and social organisations. Here, the ruler ruled in
association with a traditional council of state that formulates and implements policies within the
framework of sharia. This feat was achieved because the legitimacy and credibility of the
leadership was based on ruling in accordance with the Sharia law.

The implication of this explanation is that the law becomes supreme and not the ruler or The
second socio-political grouping is comprised of the centralised states of Western/mid western
states of Yoruba and Edo lands. Among the Igbo though, the terms ‘acephalous and stateless’ are
often applied to them to depict a set of highly decentralised, segmentary lineage-oriented cultural
groups dominant around the eastern region of Nigeria. Thus, although there is no agreement of
the origin of the Ibos as a preliterate stock their segmentary lineage forms as a main scheme of
social control does not amount to problems in leadership. Rather, they are deeply republican
people with mapped out public schemes for administering their public affairs through native
customs and traditions that abhor indiscipline.

In effect, what holds in the Igbo traditional concept of political power and authority , is
structured and determined by the concept of Umunna while the memberships of associations are
also based on title systems. From the brief review, the apparent common strand among the three
socio-political groupings is that all the three had theocratic tendencies which not only ensured
justice and peace but accountability and administrative efficiency . This dramatically affected the
demographic constitution of the citizenry. This is evidenced in the exacerbating identity
differences between the three major ethnic groups and the minorities which now dominate a
Nigeria’s social and political scene.

This situation entailed the development of two public realms

A communal realm based on membership in an ethnic group. A civic realm based on an

assumption of universal citizenship. In sum, the anti-colonial orientation fostered non-challant
attitudes towards the state and its apparati, and the conviction that nothing was wrong with
‘stealing from it”. By and large, in sum, it was conceived as normal to for an individual to loot
the state’s treasury to the benefit of his/her group.

It also bequeathed commerce over industry and state over civil society and market forces. This
provided the basis for state-led corruption that is a hallmark of governance in Nigeria. This
practice not only exploited Nigeria’s diversity but to date is one of the crises of citizenship and
identity in contemporary Nigeria. The summary of the impact of colonialism transcends being an
episode as some African historians have argued , to epochal dislocations.
This is in no other sense that apart from the result of the continuities in the ‘dislocations’ which
has underpinned the character of the Nigerian state as it relates to ethnicity, minority issues as
well as the politics of citizenship it also nurtured an already fragmented elite
class. Accordingly, colonialism created the ‘infrastructure’ for ethnicity through building alien
and mostly artificial political structures that lumped diverse people together. Explain the creation
of ethnic relations of the Nigerian State and demonstrate how this affected its main dislocations
in relation to society.

Independence/Post Independence

Starting from the late 1940s, the local anti-colonial movement instead of demanding greater
participation of the local elite in the colonial enterprise, the movement changed its demands to
the quest for full independence. Subsequently, on the Ist of October, 1960 despite many
difficulties and differences among its various component groups, Nigeria became a sovereign
State. Consequent upon this, independent efforts were made by the new government to meet the
social compact forged during the national mobilisation against civilian rule. The reflection of the
political upheaval in the country inevitably led to the country being under military dictatorship
for more than 30 years of its existence as an independent nation, starting in January 1966 with
the coup of Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu.

With the successful execution of the transition programme the Abubakar regime finally nipped in
the bud, 12 years of wide goose chase of Babangida’s ‘transition without end’ which had
commenced in 1986. Expectedly, military intervention in politics culminated into the
militarisation of society so much so that the political culture of the leaders as it relates to
relationship with citizens has been that of intolerance and impatience in the face of dissent. In
effect, it not only led to the elevation of force, order, intimidation, compulsion and control but
also to the excessive centralisation of power. In effect, to date the need for a symbiotic
relationship between the executive and the legislature is still undermined.

For example, while the attitude of the executive is largely intolerant the legislature tends to over
exert its oversight powers on the executive. At the state level the governors are always at strife
with the legislature so much so that impeachment clause is invoked even in issues
undeserving. Little wonder that legitimacy of the 1999 constitution has been contested to the
extent that there is agitation for genuine democratic reforms. A reflection of norms and values
that place a premium on the freedom of the individual-freedom from the state abuse and
infringement of rights by other individuals.

The important point therefore from the aforementioned is that Citizen –

State relations has been riddled with frustrations not because Nigerians are still impatient with
matters that require due process but because the structure of the State and pattern of allocation of
resources needs to be demilitarised. In the absence of these, Nigerians will not only continue to
be intolerant of one another but be embroiled in the lack of acceptance of ethnic
diversities, religious pluralism and cultural differences. The primacy of the state was greatly
reinforced given that it is at the centre of the extraction and distribution of resources which is of
primary interest to all groups and classes.

Analyze the issues raised in the Independent/post-colonial Nigerian

The expectation is that attitudes should guide behaviour and any thing short of this is termed
discrepancies between attitudes and behaviour. To therefore be a part of the process of re-
orientating the family towards a democratic culture, children’s rights need to be inculcated in the
home in order to nurture future democrats . In effect, children should be socialized. The essence
of this is to checkmate the incremental possibility of militarised society.

Society The essence of building a strong civic culture among the citizens is that most civil
society organisations due to the incursion of military in governance have tended to focus on the
civil and political rights to the detriment of economic, social and cultural rights. However, it
must be reiterated that democracy must yield dividends in order to reinforce civil society only
through political education at all levels of society. This is pertinent because as long as the
attitude of the leadership is positive towards the culture of democracy the citizens will inevitably
be obligated to it. In effect, Nigeria needs to build on its institutions as well as on policies that
are people- oriented so as to enhance the development of its citizenry.

The State The problems and challenges of the structure of the Nigerian State can only be
achieved when the problems and challenges that are itemised below are addressed. The practice
of a federal system should be in reality such that power should be devolved to an acceptable
level in the federating unit and not on paper. This position becomes important based on the fact
that a federal state, is a political contrivance intended to reconcile national unity and power with
the maintenance of state rights for certain common and mutual purposes.

1999 constitution provides for common pool of financial resources which is to be

distributed among the Federal and State Governments as well as the Local Government

Councils in each State, on such manners as may be prescribed by the National Assembly. The
executive should display more of openness and transparency in leadership. The civil service
should jettison bureaucracy and ensure that people are served promptly, politely and efficiently.

How can the Nigerian society be totally re-oriented?

In this unit, we tried to explain the peculiarities of the Nigerian state from the pre-
colonial, colonial and post-colonial continuity in relation to the character as well how the
Nigerian society can be re-oriented through some institutions. The continuity of all the factors
mentioned experienced in the colonial to the post- colonial Nigeria should be seen as
complementary rather than independent, of one another.

SOCIETY AND STATE RELATIONS

The implication of this is that the society with its numerous and diverging social organisations
had long preceded the formation of the State. Owing to most accounts of the origin of the
state , the state evolved from the society. To this end, the State can be said to be ‘embedded’ in
the society in mutual interrelation with other societal actors . This makes it subject to pressures
and influences from actors of the organisations representing the society in an attempt to create a
certain balance between State and society.

Dislocation of State-Society Relations

Greek which conceive of the society as a private realm and the state as a public realm that has
made ethnicity such a salient force in Africa. This dislocation further underpinned the character
of the Nigerian state-state society in relation to ethnicity, minority issues as well as the politics of
citizenship. The fragmented moral order by plurality of groups contained in the state, state-
society relations produced not simply the public-private realm dichotomy, but also a
dichotomised public realm. Flowing from the above, the relationship between the Nigerian State
and Society like most developing states, is segmented along ethnic, socioeconomic, religious and
other fault lines.

What in your understanding constitutes the dislocation of state-society relations?

Mouzelis, rather restrictive definition because he argues that to stretch the civil society notion to
cover also non-state groups and institutions that exist in all state societies weakens the concept’s
analytical utility. By conditions of modernity, he means social settings where not only the public
and private spheres are clearly differentiated, but in which exist also a large-scale mobilisation of
the population and its independent inclusion into the national, economic, political, and cultural
arenas. The existence of strongly organised non-state interest groups is capable of checking
eventual abuses of power by those who control the means of administration and coercion. That
there is an existence of a balanced pluralism among civilsociety interests so that none can
establish absolute dominance.

This point presupposes that where people are brought in an authoritarian fashion it can be said to
be a weak civil society. This is because previously the distribution of political, civil and socio-
economic rights was uneven and restricted. All these bring to bear the fact that democratisation is
not only about the political but also the economic and cultural spheres. In specific terms civil
society organisations play a legitimate role in ensuring that established principles guide both the
specific actions of the state and the overall goals of national development.

They are important actors in helping to create and strengthen the culture of rights within a
communities and country.

How do civil organisations contribute to strengthen the relationship between the state and
society?

The method by which the state obtains, support is largely through legal coercion by declaring
and enforcing laws. Functionally, items covered by the state and society are not mutually
independent. In this unit, the peculiarities of the Nigerian society, the dislocations due to
colonialism as well as the role of civil societies in a state were explain. The unit explained what a
society is, especially the epochal dislocation of state-society relations due to colonialism.
It also explained the role of civil organisations in the society.

[...]

state the meaning of political obligation.

Understanding Political Obligation?

In broad terms, obligation means to bind morally by some favour rendered or to legally constrain
by contract or by duty. In practical terms, political obligation is the legal imposition of obligation
on the citizen to obey the laws of the government which usually leaves the individual no option
but rather containing a penalty in-case of failure. The essence is to ensure that experience enters
into choice. Scholars have argued that even in the most purely technical aspect of it, it is difficult
to agree that in this fictive construct, the individual decision-maker, the party,’ makes choices in
what is even constructively a ‘sequence’.

Discuss your understanding of Rawls conception of political obligation?

This is as against taking advantage of the free benefits by non-co-operation. Broadly ‘fairness’
borders on some consideration, which is only relevant once a given distribution has been
met. The application of the principles of fairness in the distribution of the basic goods in the
society is expected to be in such a manner that ensures justice for all its members thereby
eliminating arbitrary distinction between competing claims. To therefore guarantee the fairness
of distributive outcomes quite independently of the consent of the participants or beneficiaries
some specified conditions must be present before a person can be said to be obligated to abide by
the rules of the institution/state.

The conditions That all the future members of the proposed society typically must voluntarily
accept the principles of “obligation” to be chosen.

That the already existing society must already have had its principle of justice which
should include the guarantee of the

‘rule of law’ embedded in satisfying the principles of justice. The first is that the contractors
should not lose sight of the fact that the principle of equal liberty served as a guide in choosing
principles for individuals in the original position. Second, as a condition of institutional
obedience, a police state may be instituted so as to regulate citizens’ behaviour through
force/coercion . This is aimed at guarding against the unpleasant consequences of revolutionary
tendencies of some individuals.

The implication of this, is that no young child or even adult who is not financially
independent, and thus capable of choosing his/her own life, is bound to his native country. This
is because he /she have no mature option of choice between accepting and not accepting the
benefits of the legal system. To this end, such an individual is at liberty to choose whatever
country he pleases”. However, this “mature option of choice” has been debunked practically on
the grounds that it does not appear plausible given the expense of travel and the often stiff
immigration requirements of most countries.

More over, it is also obvious that the notions of ‘accepting benefit’ and

Infact, Rawls concludes that the average citizen has no political obligation per se since it is
typically difficult to say, from the view point of average citizen, what the requisite binding
obligatory act is. To this end, he maintained that each citizen has a natural duty to promote and
support just institutions and arrangements.

Advantages of the Principle of Natural Duties over

This principle is based on the two principles of justice. In effect, where the basic structure of
society is just, or reasonably just from the angle of a partial compliance theory, then every
individual in a state is bound to comply with the institutional rules. This principle is established
on the features that define the rule of law or the precepts of justice associated with the general
administration of law. The practice of the principles at any given moment it may be adopted at
the constitution-making and legislative stages, for instance, in Nigeria- the National Assembly
and House of Representatives, and when it is assented into law, it becomes the paradigm or
reference point.

Paradigms not only provide a framework for problem solving, they involve a series of other
commitments. Put differently, for rule of law, once the paradigm is established, it constitutes
some sort of restrictions on individual rights in the sense that the rights will be defined within the
ambit of the rule of law for the regular and impartial administration of public rules. The general
principle which serves as a rule or guide for the notion of natural justice is that judges interpret
and apply the rule correctly, or that those who enact the laws and give orders in similar cases
ensure that sanctions for law- violation should be proportionate to the crime. In effect, the rule of
law depends not only on the provision of adequate safeguards against abuse of power by the
Executive, but also on the existence of effective government capable of maintaining law and
order as well as ensuring adequate social and economic conditions of life for the society.

The obvious advantages of this principle over the second arm of the principle of fairness which is
more or less like it, is that it does not In sum, the natural duty of justice, Rawls contends, is ‘the
primary basis of our political ties to a constitutional regime or rather that it is the principle which
binds citizens generally to their political institutions’.

What constitutes the fundamental tenets is the contention of this principle?

This principle is an important component of the notion of right given that it helps to define
various interpersonal relationships and to explain how these relationships arise. The rule of this
duty expects citizens to support and comply with just institutions already in
existence. And, where no institution is in existence, to establish such institutions if it can be
achieved without much inconvenience. From this analysis, one fact is immediately obvious and
that is, that the principle of the natural duty is premised on the two principles of justice.

So, it could be argued that where the basic structures of society have been validated with just
rules, or even as just as can reasonably be, then all citizens are bound to comply with the
institutional rules. I think a parallel can be drawn between the first principle and the
latter. However, to say a parallel line can be drawn is not to suggest any homologous relationship
between the two though no logical difference exists between what the two principles and that of
individuals demand. So far, the obvious advantages of this principle are evidenced in first, the
agreement with the use of ‘duty’ in connection with status or role.

This advantage brings to the fore the coercive feature of the concept of duty in relation to certain
social ties or interpersonal relationships which may involve their performance being
enforced. However, the adoption of these principles is dependent on how rigorous or convincing
the natural duty of justice will be to other natural duties.

Advantages of the Principle of Natural Duties over the

This principle , does not presuppose any act of consent or any voluntary act in order to obligate.

List the advantages of the principle of Natural Duties over the Principle of Fairness Rawls
acknowledges the existence of several natural duties classified into two main types

Put differently, the principle of positive natural duties is related to the conviction that each
citizen has a natural duty to promote and support just institutions or arrangements, which is
predicated on the performance of good actions. For instance, the natural duty of mutual
aid, which may require, for example, that a person should do a great good to another person if
such a good can be brought about at little cost to oneself. In addition to the duties of mutual aid
and non-malevolence is the duty of non-interference with the property of another and guidance
of, the action of highly irrational or the duty of care as regards non- rational persons such as the
insane and children which every citizen is required to perform so as to avoid unnecessary
bottlenecks. Sequel to the above duties, Rawls further alludes to the “duty to oppose injustice”
which borders on justifiable civil disobedience .

Coercion in this case, by implication is the direct limiting of freedom as curtained by force. This
unit explained what the principles of natural duties imply. It also explained that there is no major
distinction between the principle of natural duties and the principles/precepts of natural
justice. This unit addressed the meaning of the principle of natural duties and the types of duty as
well as the advantages.

Definition of Morality

This is to ascertain if at all, these conceptions will in any way facilitate the understanding and
relevance of morality in the context of political obligation.

One the other hand, Vernard Mayo and John Ladd as well as Hare and

Nowell-Smith argue that one’s principles are moral as long as one conceives them to be over-
riding as well as the willingness to see others take them as supreme. This position provides
morality with a social dimension in that it entails legislating for others while retaining the
content and form IE which are relative to what the individual decides to accept or reject as a way
of life. The key objection and criticism of the IE is worth mentioning. This is related to its refusal
to accept that content in its existentialist form is intrinsic to morality.

The implication of this in its other words is sort of saying that a moral principle can have any
content whatsoever and that any principle of action can be a moral principle. This conception of
morality Warnock warns would have the “obviously unacceptable consequences that everyone
necessarily, however, bizarre the principles may be, must be said to be regularly guided by moral
principles’. More over, the IE seems to make nonsense of the central question ‘why should I
obey the law?” This is as it relates to, for instance, an individual accepting obedience to the law
as the supreme authoritative principle, it would therefore be out of place to enquire why he or she
should live or abide by such a principle. Also, on the contrary, if he or she believes ‘obedience to
the law” does not constitute morality or a moral principle, there would still be no use asking
‘why obey the law”?.

Trans-Individual Ethics

To this end, Hart insists on the ‘need to understand morality as a development from the primary
phenomenon of the morality of a social group. In effect, the existence of a moral point of view
shared commonly by those who hold the same factual beliefs is the basic position of TIE.

Mention the two conceptions of morality and there claims?

The Basic Difference between the Two Conceptions The first basic difference is the insistence
by the TIE theorists that the moral point of view must be socially and materially defined. This is
reflected in its minimal concern for the common good, for social togetherness, for harmony. The
TIE conceives morality as a mode of human guidance, that logically involves a definite social
content be it social harmony, the common good, justice, efficiency, or, in general, consideration
for others. It is this common good, justice etc that constitutes the content of the said moral point
of view.

An important advantage, however, of the TIE conception of morality, is that it allows one to
reason from statements of fact to prescriptive normative statements, from factual- “Is statements
to moral-ought statements”. If one accepts the moral point of view or social element as a
necessary and perhaps sufficient condition of morality, then all one need show is that a given
principle of action is an instance of TIE.

Are there any differences between the two conceptions?

This is alongside the arguments of Hart and Rawls that justice or the existence of just relations
among individuals in a cooperative venture or institution is reason enough for the duty of
institutional obedience. To this end, a citizen of a state is expected to obey the government of the
state. In specific terms, this kind of obligation is usually termed prima facie moral
obligation. The phrase Prima facie specifically was used first by Ross* in the classification of
duties.
This is as it relates to an obligation which according to Ross “is not expressing a duty but
something connected with duty”. In effect, ‘the ultimate factor in moral decisions and actions is
not necessarily the ‘good’ act, but rather in the performance of duty which transcends the
expectation of pleasure or happiness’. Some of the examples of prima facie duties which are
based on moral relations are duties of fidelity, of reparation, of gratitude, of justice, and of self-
improvement.

Sequel to the above position, Ross further argues that “prima facie duty’

This is premised on the feature of prima facie duties which is to exist irrespective of the
circumstances within which they might occur. In effect, there is always a presumption in favour
of carrying out and performing an act which falls within the description of prima facie duties
until the obligation countervailed by a more stringent obligation. In view of all this, the moral
obligation to obey the law, therefore, should be understood as meaning a presumptive moral
obligation.

It is important for the student to take cognizance from the foregoing contentions the fact
that prima facie duties are not absolute or even

In sum, a prima facie duty is a duty that one ought to perform ceteris paribus’’ i.e. other things
being equal. The unit examined what morality is in relation to political obligation, the
conceptions of morality and the analysis of what prima facie entails in the context of a political
system.

Analyzing public Goods?

A state rendering/ensuring the provision of these goods is justified based on the state as a social
contract or charter.

Is the state justified in its provision of public good?

The primary Imperatives of the State The state is contracted as having the monopoly of
unconditional constraint hence its ultimate goal is the maintenance of public peace and order and
the provision of security internally and externally. The state achieves this through the political
institutions i.e defence and security agencies that control the use of force within the territorial
setting via law enforcement and warfare . The essence of ruler ship under due process therefore
is indicative of a generally shared aspiration towards safeguard.

The Secondary Imperatives of the State

This is specifically contained in the Fundamental Objective and Directive Principles State Policy
as expressed in chapter 2 13 and 24, of the 1999 constitution.

Education objectives

The fundamental benefits of public goods mentioned above will expectedly be benefiting all the
citizens based on its features. In effect, in as much, as the government desires to defend the
country against an attack, then all the citizens in that country are being defended. The defence of
the country cannot be a defence of a section of the country or a section of its population. The
non-excludability feature means that collective goods are such that, if they are available to some
of the members, they cannot be denied to others in the group .

Thus, since additional consumption does not diminish the amount available to others, it would be
unwise to exclude anyone. Basic Principles in the Distribution of Basic Goods The important
issues therefore to our discussion are to determine what basic principles determine how the basic
goods are distributed in the society. This in essence, means that where the basic structure of
society is just to a reasonable extent of partial compliance, then everyone is bound to comply
with the institutional rules irrespective of their institutional relationships. Second, social and
economic inequalities are to be arranged so that they are both reasonably expected to be to
everyone’s advantage and attached to positions and offices open to all.

The second principle applies, in the first approximation, to the distribution of income and wealth
and to the design of organisations that make use of differences in authourity and responsibility
and chains of command. Thus, while the distribution of wealth and income need not be equal, it
must be to everyone’s advantage and at the same time, positions of authority and offices of
command must be accessible to all. That the material resources of the nation are harnessed and
distributed as best as possible to serve the common good. That the economic system is not
operated in such a manner as to permit the concentration of wealth or the means of production
and exchange in the hands of few individuals or group.

That suitable and adequate shelter, suitable and adequate food, reasonable national minimum
wage, old age care and pensions, and unemployment, sick benefits and welfare of the disabled
are provided for all citizens. Robert Nozick brings to bear John Locke, Herbert Spencer and the
laissez faire capitalism in his argument for the minimal state whose function will be limited
merely to the punishment of offenders. Since, citizens do not have only social and economic
rights, the fourth and final objective of the state is political given that citizens have political
rights as well. The principle of natural justice implies that men’s political rights should be
respected and treated as sacred and sacrosanct in other to maintain the unity and integrity of the
state.

The unit explained the essential attributes of a state in its provision of public goods. Also, it
explained that beyond the provision of these goods there should be principles that should serve
as guide.

TUTOR-MARKEDASSIGNMENT

Fourth Dimension Publishing Ltd.

CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE

The obvious implication of this is that an individual or citizens political obligations are not only
not absolute but closely tied with the related notions of dissent and of protest. To this
end, citizens or inhabitants of a State can embark on a massive act of civil disobedience aimed at
resistance against government policies/ acts. These protests sometimes are directed, not against a
law as such but against a policy or a decision of government probably because such decision
undercuts basic political rights or violates a shared conception of distributive justice or both. In
the light of the above, many scholars, especially Mohandas Ghandi have maintained that civil
disobedience is an inherent right of a citizen” without which the citizen is less than a man ”.

He argues further that, “unless a citizen can insist that s/he has a moral right as a moral being to
disagree with his/her government anytime it acts unjustly then his or her moral status is
degraded”. It is for this reason that it becomes essential to distinguish between civil disobedience
and direct action. Direct action according to Bedau , is a type of political protest in which the
dissenter uses his own body as a lever to pry loose the policy of government. The example of a
direct action is evidenced in the self-incineration of the Buddhist monk or his hunger strike in
protest against some government practice or policy.

Civil disobedience is used in most cases in relation to anything from constitutional test cases and
such forms of protest as non-cooperation, hunger strike, industrial strikes and self-immolation to
aiding the escape of a criminal. Direct action can be likened to direct violence, which, directed
against authority, is described as rebellion, revolt, or even revolution. And, these are modalities
of protest against structural violence or direct violence where the latter is acts carried out by
instrumentalities of the government. This is essentially based on the argument of some scholars
that there may be situations that bear no connection between the law which is de facto disobeyed
and the decision or policy which is the reason for the protest.

In this case, the disobedience becomes largely symbolic i.e. a law is disobeyed in order to protest
the decision or policy under reference. To this end, they contend that to say that civil
disobedience constitutes an act of law violation is unfounded based on the following
fundamental arguments. That there is no crime known as ‘civil disobedience’. This is because for
there to be a crime, there needs to be an area of human conduct prohibited or under pain of
sanction by rule of law.

However, the act of civil disobedience does not fall under this ambit based on the
requirements. In effect, there is no gain saying that civil disobedience simply as an end itself
does violate the law. This kind of publicity becomes possible through the popular form of protest
which takes the form of appeal, address and propaganda “about a change in the law or policies of
the government contrary to good public policy” . Although this feature is agreeable to many
theorists, however, the caveat borders on whether the ‘protest-feature’ is an end in itself or rather
as part of an effort to achieve social change/ social objective.

Consequent upon this, it would therefore amount to giving the dog a bad name to hang it if
peradventure government agents apprehend a group of citizens or their representatives under the
ploy that they were involved in civil disobedient acts. This would be an aberration bearing in
mind that their acts cannot be concealed from the appropriate authorities since from the outset
they were notified in advance of the time and of the place/venue which is always open to public
glare.
Abernathy among others, just as the name presupposes the word

Luther’s admonition that violence “destroys community and makes brotherhood impossible
because it does not leave society members dialoguing with one another” the non-violent, polite
attitude comes into play so as to re-assure a distraught public that they need not live in fear for
safety and security of their property. By and large, it is clear that the civil disobedient does not
contemplate a violent overthrow of the government given the non-violent feature. In effect, the
civilly disobedient should not violate the same law that is being protested. This is in relation to
the fact that the civil disobedient believes that what is done is right even if it is conceived as
illegal.

Second, civil disobedience is also conscientious in relation to the fact that the civil disobedient
needs to be someone who is already aware of the political legitimacy of the government in lieu
of the quest to press for claims within the constitution. This default not only obstructs but
appears inadequate despite political and legal procedures being constitutionally guaranteed. It is
however, important to note that the conscientious assertion does not seek to justify disobedience
to law on the fact that a given law is incompatible with one conscience. This is apt given Hook’s
warning that conscience is a dangerous guide to principled political peace workers because of the
possibility of taking totalitarians in tow.

The political act could be construed in a way that those who employ civil disobedient strategies
will be seen as persons who are concerned with the institutional frame-work of rule in the state
or persons who seek a re-statement of decisions.

Civil Disobedience as Constituting an Act of Law Violation

Irrespective of the above analysis, a civil disobedient act is still conceived as disobedience to the
law or constituting an act of law violation based on the regard of civil disobedience “as
violent, lawless, unrestrained and coercive-that is a departure from normal . Accordingly, a civil
disobedient is regarded as a criminal that deserves to be punished. First, their main objection is
premised on the argument that, rather than actively resorting to protest which ‘supposedly’
constitutes breaking the law, the individual/citizen could easily have ‘ignored’ the proposed
policy that appears unfavorable.

Second, that civil disobedience in a way constitutes ‘disobedience’

The argument that civil disobedience involves the violation of a law or norm of public conduct in
relation to a penal code came to be based on the argument whether or not constitutional test
cases. Some of the proponents of the exclusion of testcases from the analysis are Wasserstrom
and Carl Cohen who contend that if an act of law violation is performed under a claim of
ultimately legal or constitutional rights, or vindicated by the courts on grounds of invalidity such
act is simply not an act of civil disobedience. If laws must be violated then both must be invalid
or unconstitutional. These are few examples of the ills of a nation which rarely or more or
less, have been given legal expression.

Adeigbo , on the other hand, does not agree that constitutional test cases constitute civil
disobedience acts. This is because admitting them implies the contradictory preposition that the
law promotes and protects its own testing – given the nexus between law and obedience. Thus, in
logical terms, the law cannot advocate for the breach of law. Accordingly, in as much as it is
conceived that disobeying uncontrolled and unjust laws guarantees protection of the disobedient
from the consequences of his or her action, then forgoing such protection is not out of context.

First, this is in relation to the realisation that the admission of illegality and the willingness to
accept issues involved effectively brings to bear the aim of protest to the public
awareness. Also, the illegality aspect of it serves to distinguish law violation from the hard-core
criminal type. The above points suffice to show why civil disobedience involves the violations of
valid laws. Discuss your understanding of how civil disobedience does constitute civil
disobedience.

This unit not only defined civil disobedience but highlighted the set of criteria for deciding how
an act of disobedience to law may not constitute civil disobedience and also when an act is
properly an instance of civil disobedience. This unit addressed what civil disobedience means, its
features and arguments for and against its constituting law violation.

What do you understand by the concept civil disobedience and its key features?

‘On Not Prosecuting Civil disobedience.

LIBERTY/FREEDOM

To this end, the conceptions of liberty/freedom and their implications in terms of political
practice will be analysed. state the meaning of liberty and freedom. Specifically, somebody can
be conceived to be free to the extent that one is able to do something without any constraint or
impediment capable of frustrating desire . The concept of liberty can be used in a moral and
social sense in social and political philosophy.

In situations like this, “to be free from restraint” implies “to be free to choose” between
alternatives available to one. This means the absence of coercion, by man, state or
authority. But, if one is coerced then ones action is not a product of individual choice. To this
end, ones freedom/liberty could be said to be curtailed or limited.

In perspective of our analysis, the conception of coercion shall be limited to the direct limiting of
freedom by force. These types are usually referred to as direct forms of coercion. However, of
importance is the subtle and often dangerous form of coercion which consists of deliberate or
mild alteration in the conditions which surround us and in which we live, and which can affect
our decisions . This alteration to the conditions surrounding one comes in different forms.

On the other, it could rear its head through state propaganda. A cogent example of
this, education- which has the ability to enlarge an individual’s ability to act freely and the ability
to take decision about available choices. In the same manner, Partridge contends that it is “not
only suppression but misrepresentation and distortion or any kind of dishonest propaganda which
gains its effects from privileged control over sources of publicity, may restrict the freedom of
others”. This is in relation to the concealing of certain alternatives which invariably constitutes
restriction on the range of available choices just like that of direct coercion.

Consequent upon this, limiting the exercise of freedom in a particular society cannot be
overruled. This can be understood to mean that it is not only other people that can impede or
restrain an individual or a citizen’s freedom. Rather, “our freedom, can be limited or hindered by
poverty, ignorance and other restraints which are themselves the indirect results of deliberately
imposed and remediable social arrangements”. For instance, the freedom of a poor individual
freedom to acquire a property or anything could be said to be restricted vis-a vis that of the rich
or elite who has the power in the same society.

This is because the limiting power is physical which is beyond the individual. But in a situation
like this, it is then dependent on the individual’s ability to modify freedom to his /her
advantage. But, an individual cannot be said to be truly free to choose from available alternatives
without the power to affect it . Essentially, ‘freedom/liberty can be conceived as the absence of
coercion and restraint or the absence of certain impediments imposed by others to the exercise
and satisfaction of certain interests and specific activities.

This is in the claim by positive theorists that freedom in all its aspects cannot be enjoyed except
the state initiates certain social conditions which will aid the fruition of the negative freedom . In
a situation like this, the state needs to act in order to promote freedom.

Berlin notes in his seminar paper “Two Concepts of Liberty”

In effect, not to be interfered with in pursuit of ones desire is to negatively free. Negative
freedom aims at solving the paradox of what constitutes the limit within which a person or group
should be left to do what he or she or the group is/are capable of doing without interference by
others. The belief here is that self-mastery the act of rational selfdetermination enables an
individual to control his/her lower passions, which is true liberty derives from man’s desire to be
in control of his own destiny. In essence, an individual’s life and destiny should be in his/her
control rather than be controlled by others.

True liberty is all about not acting irrationally or ignorantly moreover an individual can be forced
to be free if his lower self acts irrationally. In sum, though Berlin believes that self-mastery is not
the sole or necessarily the most important goal in life still he objects to the idea that force could
be used to achieve rational self-mastery. He says that to force or coerce or torture man in the
name of freedom is morally objectionable. The shortfall in positive liberty according to him is
that it could be used to justify the most pernicious rule.

To this end, he believes that freedom is one among several social values including
justice, equality etc., and it could be restricted for the sake of these values as well as its own. But
he insists that freedom should not be curtailed or restrained without a sound moral justification.

Mention and discuss Berlin’s two forms of Liberty?

The first is that Berlin’s preference for negative liberty is premised on the non-interference
feature which borders on the pursuit of one’s desire/goal/wants. This is because human
inalienable rights/freedoms should not be obstructed in any way. The second criticism centres on
the fact that the account of positive freedom does not seem convincing. The fact that this
contention of liberty need not be two-forked into the higher and lower selves.

It is at odds with the ideals of liberalism given that both advocate the importance of self –
realisation. In effect, he contends that freedom should be construed as a union of three
schemas. His view is that ‘when we talk of an agent’s freedom one is concerned always with that
agent’s freedom from constraint or compulsion, interference with, barrier in doing, becoming
something’. It is expected that this triad relation will end any form of controversy about what
nature or kinds of freedom there are and the one that promotes humane ideal.

However, what will generate controversy about liberty is not really what freedom is but on which
liberty comes before the other.

FBQ1: A human population occupying a defined territory and having government and
sovereignty is referred to as ___________
Answer: State

FBQ2: The main thrust of the __________theory of the state is that the leaders are ordained by
God
Answer: Divine

FBQ3: _______ conceived the state as a “product and manifestation” of irreconcilable class
antagonisms in society.
Answer: Karl Marx

FBQ4: The agreement between the citizens and their state for obedience to the law of the state
and the protection of life and property of the citizens is called ______
Answer: Social contract theory

FBQ5: The Nigerian state was established in the year ______

Answer: 1914

FBQ6: The gamut of social organisations which interact within the state’s boundaries as well as
with the state is referred to as _______
Answer: Society

FBQ7: The legal constraint on the citizens to obey the laws of the state is known as political
______
Answer: Obligation

FBQ8: A deliberate resistance against government policies and actions is called ______
Answer: Civil disobedience

FBQ9: The primary imperative of the state is the maintenance of public peace and _________
Answer: Order

FBQ10: All persons whom a state is obligated to protect is conceived by international law as
____
Answer: Citizen

FBQ11: The non – constraining of one’s action is otherwise known as ______

Answer: Liberty

FBQ12: Allegiance is one of the fundamental duties and responsibilities expected from _____
Answer: Citizenship

FBQ13: The institution of governance saddled with the responsibility of law making is known as
the ____
Answer: Legislature

FBQ14: The last arbiter for the resolution of disputes between the state and citizens, and between
different tiers of government is the ______
Answer: Judiciary

FBQ15: The link between the executive and society in the implementation of public policies and
programmes is called the _____
Answer: Civil Society

FBQ16: The ___________ apparatus responsible for public security in Nigeria is referred to as
the security apparatus
Answer: Coercive

FBQ17: The political institution responsible for the aggregation and articulation of the interests
of the citizens is ________
Answer: Political parties

FBQ18: The distribution of fiscal powers amongst the constituent parts of a political system is
known as _______
Answer: Revenue Allocation

FBQ19: The love of one’s country and willingness to defend it is called ________
Answer: Patriotism

FBQ20: _________ is mostly associated with the amalgamation of Northern and Southern
Protectorates into the present Nigerian state.
Answer: Sir Frederick Lugard

FBQ21: The absolute and perpetual power of the state over all person, throughout its territory is
known as ____________
Answer: Sovereignty
FBQ22: The theory that traces the origin of the state through the eldest male parent is called
_________
Answer: Patriarchal theory

FBQ23: The three major ethnic groups in Nigeria are _____, Igbo and Yoruba
Answer: Hausa

FBQ24: Nigeria became a sovereign state in the year ________

Answer: 1960

FBQ25: The first military coup d’etat in Nigeria was led by _____
Answer: Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogu

FBQ26: The duties that require individual members of a state to refrain from performing bad acts
is known as ______
Answer: Negative duties

FBQ27: The quality attributable to human action by reason of its conformity or lack of
conformity to standards or rules according to which it should be regulated is called ________
Answer: Morality

FBQ28: The secondary imperatives of the state is concerned with ________

Answer: Socio – economic development

FBQ29: The principles of natural _______ implies that citizen’s political rights should be
respected and treated as sacred and sacrosanct.
Answer: Justice

FBQ30: Non – violence is one of the salient features of _________

Answer: Civil disobedience

FBQ31: The absence of restraint or certain impediments imposed by others to the exercise of
certain interests is known as ___________
Answer: Freedom

FBQ32: The citizenship acquired because parents or any of the grandparents belongs to a
community indigenous to Nigeria is by ___________
Answer: Birth

FBQ33: A citizen is entitled to Equal access to _______

Answer: Rights

FBQ34: The presumed rights of states in Nigeria to reserve their public services exclusively for
their indigenes is called _____
Answer: Statism
FBQ35: Citizens who are not members or natives of a community in Nigeria is referred to as
______
Answer: Non – indigenes

FBQ36: _____________means love for one’s country?

Answer: Patriotism

FBQ37: The distribution of fiscal powers between the central and state governments is known
as_______?
Answer: Revenue Allocation

FBQ38: According to the United Nations Organisations, when a constituted government in a

state no longer performs the core functions required of its people, it is referred to
as_____________
Answer: Failed State

FBQ39: The capacity of a state to control all the human and material resources within, under and
above its territory is known as________
Answer: Sovereignty

FBQ40: The service delivery scheme in Nigeria is known as___________?

Answer: SERVICOM

FBQ41: A government of laws is by definition___________?

Answer: A limited government

FBQ42: A set of rules, conventions and norms ruling the government process is
called___________?
Answer: Regime

FBQ43: ___________refers to the protection against interference, torture, kidnapping and

arbitrary imprisonment, etc.
Answer: Personal rights

FBQ44: The famous Indian, _________ is known as a non–violent political theorists

Answer: Gandhi

FBQ45: The concept that assumes that nothing is desired for its own sake except pleasure is
called_______________
Answer: Utilitarianism

FBQ46: The form of relationship between a citizen and the state in which the citizen owes
loyalty and commitment to the state is known as___________?
Answer: Allegiance
FBQ47: A social contract valid for all in a political system basedon the set of rights and
obligations which all are entitled to within a given state is called_____?
Answer: Citizenship

FBQ48: The legal constraint on the citizen to obey the laws of the state is referred to
as___________?
Answer: Political Obligation

FBQ49: An important independent institution which contributes to the effectiveness and stability
of the democratic government is called_______
Answer: Civil Organisation

FBQ50: _____________of a citizen is evidenced in the adherence to customs and traditions that
have definite symbolic value that greatly strengthen national unity and pride.
Answer: Patriotism

MCQ1: _______ is not a feature of the state

Answer: Democracy

MCQ2: The exponents of the social contract theory of the state excludes
Answer: Karl Marx

MCQ3: All except ________ are theories of the origin of the state
Answer: The Power theory

MCQ4: The implications of Rousseau’s social contract theory include all but one of the
following
Answer: Man is selfish by nature

MCQ5: _____ is not among the major defects of the social contract theory
Answer: It serves as a reminder of the human responses which the state can serve

MCQ6: One of the following is not among the elements of Marxist theory of the state
Answer: The state is neutral

MCQ7: The amalgamation of Nigerian took place under Lord Lugard in ________
Answer: 1914

MCQ8: The political culture of democracy is reflected in all the below except _______
Answer: Violation of human rights

MCQ9: One of the following is not a feature of civil disobedience

Answer: Direct action

MCQ10: The absence of coercion and restraint imposed by others is referred to as

Answer: Liberty
MCQ11: All except one of the following are not a types of liberty
Answer: Negative liberty

MCQ12: All persons whom a state is obligated to protect are called _______
Answer: Citizens

MCQ13: _______ is not among the means of acquiring citizenship

Answer: War

MCQ14: Duties and responsibilities of citizenship exclude _______

Answer: Crime

MCQ15: The tendency to exclude strangers from the public service of a state is called ______
Answer: Statism

MCQ16: In Nigeria, a member of the native community resident in the area of authority is
known as _______
Answer: An indigene

MCQ17: The socially constructed roles, responsibilities, expectations, norms, and stereotypes
accorded to men and women in relation to the question of citizenship is referred to as
__________
Answer: Gendered citizenship

MCQ18: The claims which a citizen can make both on the state and the other citizens is known
as _______
Answer: Rights

MCQ19: The fundamental rights of the citizen is otherwise described as ________

Answer: Inalienable right

MCQ20: _______ is not among the categories of rights

Answer: Suicide rights

MCQ21: The assumption that nothing is desired for its own sake except pleasure is otherwise
known as ________
Answer: Utilitarianism

MCQ22: A set of rules, conventions and norms ruling the governmental process is called _____
Answer: Regime

MCQ23: One of the regimes guarantee fundamental rights of citizens

Answer: Democratic political system

MCQ24: The right to command and be obeyed is called _______

Answer: Authority

MCQ25: The system of values, policies and institutions by which society manages economic
political and social affairs through interactions within and among the state, civil society and
private sector is called _________
Answer: Governance

MCQ26: The government performs the following functions except ________

Answer: Impediment of freedom

MCQ27: The major institutions of governance exclude _______

Answer: Press

MCQ28: The link between the executive and society in the implementation of public policies and
programmes is ________
Answer: Civil service

MCQ29: _______ is not one of the security architecture responsible for public security in
Nigeria
Answer: National Road Transport Workers

MCQ30: The challenges of political integration and development in Nigeria as identified by

Isagwu (1985) do not include ______
Answer: The challenge of paradox

MCQ31: The problems of patriotism and loyalty in Nigeria does not include _____
Answer: Peace

MCQ32: The state of nature is mostly associated with ________

Answer: Hobbes

MCQ33: ______ is an expression of the general will

Answer: Law

MCQ34: Every citizen of the state is entitled to _______

Answer: Rights and Duties

MCQ35: The political system in which the constituent parts are equal and coordinate is called
_________
Answer: Federation

MCQ36: The series of challenges of political development identified by Isiagwu

excludes_____________?
Answer: The challenge of production

MCQ37: The institutions of governance include all except____________?

Answer: The Pressure Groups

MCQ38: _________is the link between the executive and society in the implementation of
public policies and programmes.
Answer: The Civil Service

MCQ39: SERVICOM was inaugurated by the Federal Government of Nigeria in the

year_________?
Answer: 2005

MCQ40: ________is not among the coercive apparatus of public security in Nigeria?
Answer: Nigerian Labour congress

MCQ41: ________has the responsibility of aggregating and articulating the interests of the
citizens?
Answer: Political Parties

MCQ42: _________does not fall into the government responsibilities?

Answer: Escalation of injustice

MCQ43: The right to command and be obeyed is known as____________?

Answer: Authority

MCQ44: The categories of the International Bill of Human Rights exclude____________?

Answer: Diarchical political system

MCQ45: With the exception of ________ the following are among the categories of rights?
Answer: Conflict rights

MCQ46: Literature has it that the interest of the Europeans in Africa and indeed Nigeria was and
still is economic.
Answer: Economic

MCQ47: The concerns which border on the ambivalence of constitutional provisions

exclude_________?
Answer: Political participation

MCQ48: The duty of a citizen to pay taxes and royalties is known as_________?
Answer: Tax obligation

MCQ49: _________is not among the Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms as contained in
Chapter 4 of 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Answer: Right to kill

MCQ50: Duties that require individual members of a state to refrain from performing bad acts
are called_________?
Answer: Negative duties