Karl Popper, the Nigerian State and Democratic Consolidation

Abstract

It is a truism that African states emerged from the ashes of colonialism. This historical circumstance has always compelled the inherited states of Africa to act in such a manner that can neither create an “open society” nor guarantee freedom in the Popperian conception. Indeed, Popper argues that ‘nobody should be at mercy of others, but all should have the right to be protected by the state and that these ideas should be extended to the economic realm’. He insists that ‘it is unacceptable that the economically strong is free to bully one who is economically weak, and to rob him of his freedom’ or to ‘force those who are starving into a “freely” accepted servitude, without using violence’. Unfortunately, the colonial configuration of current independent African states predisposes that they violate individual and collective liberties without control.