CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of The Study

The rise of political parties as an instrument of national integration has captured the attention of many scholars in recent times. Their common purpose enables Appadorai (2004:537) to formulate his classical definition of political party as “A political party is more or less organized group of citizens who act together as a political unit, have distinctive aims and opinions on the leading political questions of controversy in the state, and who, by acting together as a political unit, seek to obtain control of the government”. Edmund Burke defined political party as “a body of men united for promoting by their joint endeavors, national integration upon some particular principles in which they are all agreed” (Burke, 1839).

Ostrogorski, (1854-1919) was one of the first students of politics to recognize that parties were becoming vital in the new era of democratic politics. The twentieth century proved to be the century of parties. In West Europe, mass parties battled for the votes of enlarge electorates. In communist and fabist states, ruling parties monopolized power in an attempt to reconstruct society and the people within it. In the developing world, nationalist parties became the vehicle for driving colonial rulers back to their imperial homeland. In all their cases, parties succeeded in drawing millions of with the national political process, often for the first time. The mass party was the mobilizing device of the twentieth century.

In standing between the people and the state, parties became and substantially remain, integral to politics in four main ways.

1.  Ruling parties offer direction to government, performing the vital task of steering the ship of state.
2.  Parties function as agents of elite recruitment. They serve as major mechanism for preparing and recruiting candidates for public office. If you want to lead your country, you must first persuade a party to adopt you as it candidate.
3. Parties serve as agents of interest aggregation. They transform a multitude of specific demands into more manageable packages of proposals. Parties select, reduce and combine interests. They act as a filter between society and state, deciding which demands to allow through their net.
4. The declining extent, political parties serves as a point of reference for their supporters and voters, giving people a key to interpreting a complicated political world.

Political parties are permanent organizations which contest elections, usually because they seek to occupy the decisive positions of authority within the state, unlike interest groups, which seek merely to influence the government, serious parties aim to secure the levers of power in Rod Hague and Martin Harrop (2001:167). In Weber’s phrase parties live in a house of power Weber (1968).

 A party may exist primarily as an electoral machine for gaining power with no coherent philosophy, or it may have deep ideological aims. It might also conform to Edmund Burk’s definition of a group agreed “upon a pimple by which the national interest might be served. It is a group publicly organized with the intention of gaining political power in government, to realize certain aims C. A. heeds (1975:124).

National integration is a process which includes among other things, the incorporation of various parts of a society into a functioning whole, the growth of obedience and loyalties of the nation transcending loyalties to its, parts and emergence of shared values and perspectives or consensus. Therefore, Nigerian could achieve national integration if loyalty to the nation transcends loyalties to the parts of state. Nigeria would be a country where all the citizens no matter where you reside could aspire, work and attain his life ambition without hindrance based on regionalism and states.

Party politics came into Nigerian during British rule in the country. As a result of the circumstances of their “birth”, most of the pre-independence political parties in the country lacked national outlook despite the fact that some of their main actors were looked upon as committed nationalists. A possible exception was, however, the National Council of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC) which made a number of concrete attempts to assume a national outlook.

1. 1. This material content is developed to serve as a GUIDE for students to conduct academic research work
2. 2. As a source for additional understanding of the subject.
3. 3. As a source for ideas for your own research work (if properly referenced).
4. 4. For PROPER paraphrasing (see your university definition of plagiarism and acceptable paraphrase)
5. 5. Direct citing (if referenced properly)
Thank you so much for your respect to the authors copyright.