Previous page | New search |
The free AfricaBib App for Android is available here
Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Paradigm shift: youth engagement in the conduct of the 2015 elections in Nigeria |
Author: | Osumah, Oarhe |
Year: | 2016 |
Periodical: | Journal of African Elections (ISSN 1609-4700) |
Volume: | 15 |
Issue: | 1 |
Pages: | 1-24 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | Nigeria |
Subjects: | elections 2015 youth attitudes |
Abstract: | This paper examines youth engagement in the conduct of the 2015 general elections in Nigeria, against a backdrop of historical experiences. Discounting the doom youth theory of youth bulge, youth in crisis or lumpen youth culture, the article illustrates a paradigm shift in youth engagement in the conduct of elections. Youth engagement in the 2015 elections was more constructive than in prior elections. Within the context of dual motivation theory, the destructive engagement by youth in the prior elections was motivated by the need to change the outcome, whereas their constructive conduct in the 2015 elections was driven by duty to participate in public affairs in Nigeria. This change in political attitude is explained by a growing consciousness of the potential of young people to act as agents of change. This awareness arises through the aid of social media, coupled with the recent success story of the Arab Spring driven by youth, the inflammable repercussions of previous elections, and the high stakes the 2015 general elections held for Nigerian governance. Bibliogr., sum. [Journal abstract] |