PARTY POLITICS AND DEMOCRACY: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY (U.S.A) AND THE PEOPLES DEMOCRATIC PARTY (P.D.P.) NIGERIA

Comparative studies are most times deemed to be a “seamless whole” and can either be qualitative or quantitative, comparative research as it is also called can take many forms. Two key factors are time and space, which involves historical comparism. This research project is a comparative study of two dynamic political structures in two different parts of the world, with quite a huge difference in time and space. Its looks farfetched as there has been no substantial paper on this research topic, but at the same time it is viable, this research paper will analyze findings and differences.

A democracy needs strong and sustainable political parties with the capacity to represent citizens and provide policy choices that demonstrate their ability to govern for the public good. Therefore it is essential for political parties to create more open political environment in which citizens can actively participate in the democratic process.

Party politics refers to action or political behavior motivated by what is best or politically right for the political party, rather than for the people. Olaniyi (2001) simply stated that party politics are activities of political party in a democratic environment to seek for the control of political office through stated norms of elections. To this end party politics has to do with the political ideology of the party involved and its methodology of reaching its goals.

The two major case studies; The PDP and the Republican Party have been the two major driving forces in their different countries in term of how far their democracy has evolved. The people’s Democratic Party is Nigeria’s foremost party in the fourth republic and has won all presidential elections since 1999, amidst controversial circumstances, formed in 1998 by group called the G-34 which later formed the nucleus of the party. The party since inception has had a neoliberal stance and a very conservative economic ideology, The PDP as a political party in Nigeria is built on policies that generally lie towards the right wing of the political spectrum. It has won every election since 1999 and has evolved to become the dominant party in Nigeria despite controversies surround it methods and practices. It has a neoliberal stance in its economic principles and maintains a conservative stance on certain social issues such as same sex relations.

The Republican Party of the United States of America on the other hand was born in the early 1850’s by anti slavery activist and individuals who believed that government should grant western lands to settlers free of charge. It officially became a national party in 1856, when John C Fremont was nominated for President under the slogan “Free soil, free labor, free speech, free men Fremont”. It is the second oldest existing party in the US. Its political ideology revolves around equality despite income, race, gender or religion. The party tends to hold both conservative and libertarian stance on social and economic issues respectively. The belief of the Republican party stems from the abolition of slavery, the right of speech support for women’s suffrage, the reduction of the powers of the Federal government, the reduction of bureaucracy, the return of power to the state government, the support of the idea of the primacy of the individual to fight for the right of individuals in opposition to large “bloated” government in 1866.