POLITICAL PARTIES OPPOSITION POLITICS

The Nigerian federalism has from the inception of managing the allocation of revenue among its component parts met with virulent protestation that has degenerated into perennial crisis. The locus of contention has always been the unacceptable modality or parameter adopted in the allocation of revenue. The outcome has become a defining factor of social, economic and political relations among the classes, groups and beliefs within the federation. However, going by the logic or theories of federalism, financial subordination is a deviation from a proper working offederalism; in other words, all component parts including the central authority should have the power in the constitution to control its own resources fiscally. However, such theory does not consider weaker or disadvantaged areas in its exposition nor does it consider the issue of hegemony in relation to political power or control of natural resources. These arepeculiarities that may not be common to other federalisms in history compared to Nigerian variance. This uniqueness places a horrific burden on the state in ensuring equitable distribution of revenue. It also poses a great challenge on the state in guaranteeing stability, progress of the nation such that conflictor unnecessary heating up of the polity is averted. These pertinent issues are the focus of this paper to place the federation between resource control, economic and political management while ensuring stability of the federal state of Nigeria concurrently promoting development, progress and unity of the society.

Why would a large incumbent party, that can alone muster over 45 per cent of electoral support, add seven insignificant political parties to its electoral list, thus providing them with a free ticket into the Assembly, state-sponsored financing for the next four years, and an independent deputy club in the Assembly? More importantly, why would the incumbent, as a consequence of this deliberate decision, end up without parliamentary majority? In this paper, I discuss less frequently mentioned aspects of institutional design that can help us understand why the incumbent makes such decisions and why a party system in a hybrid regime has a large number of parties. I offer qualitative evidence from the postcommunist Serbia (1990-2018). The first two aspects refer to electoral design (but not the electoral formula or district magnitude): a larger number of parties under the incumbent's control provides stronger political influence in the Republic Electoral Commission and at polling stations on election day. In hybrid regimes, the incumbent party is interested in this influence because it can use it to arrange electoral fraud. The third relates to parliamentary design: more parties in the Serbian Assembly under the incumbent's control provides more minutes on the floor during the parliamentary debate for the incumbent.

À l’automne 2004, comme en 2013-2014, l’Ukraine a connu des mouvements de contestation des pouvoirs publics sans précédent. Ils ont chacun fait émerger des formes nouvelles de résistances et de contestations, tout en opérant des ruptures avec certaines pratiques sociales de manifestations politiques ou rassemblements publics issues de l’ère soviétique. Les événements portés par le mouvement Euromaïdan nous ont démontré que les nouvelles formes de résistances aux pouvoirs publics, acquises lors de la révolution orange, ont persisté et évolué. L’expérience de ces deux mouvements de contestation a participé à un processus de changement beaucoup plus large, qu’un simple changement de pouvoir. Ils ont fourni aux Ukrainiens de nouvelles pistes de compréhension de ce qu’est ou pourrait être la démocratie. Chacun des mouvements a eu sa propre logique. Ils ont constitué des étapes où ont émergé de nouvelles pratiques démocratiques. Entre les événements de la révolution orange et ceux d’Euromaïdan, il semble y avoir eu une complexification de l’interprétation de la réalité et des enjeux chez les acteurs sociaux. Pour comprendre le phénomène, nous retiendrons l’expérience de l’histoire et la perception du temps comme outils de construction de réalités subjectives, qui ont pu être utilisées afin de favoriser la mobilisation collective.

O slogan "a luta continua", embora seja, hoje, utilizado por pessoas de várias tendências políticas, e em várias circunstâncias da vida é, originariamente, património dos regimes filocomunistas. No caso de Moçambique, ele é associado ao movimento independentista da Frente de Libertação de Moçambique (Frelimo) e as suas campanhas de politização das massas.