article · Research on humanities and social sciences
This research examines threats to national security within emerging democracies, focusing on the Nigerian fourth republic. Using systems theory, it explores the connection between governance and national security challenges. The analysis indicates that deficiencies in political governance, including an absence of people-centred leadership, weak democratic institutionalisation, high unemployment, widespread poverty, and infrastructural deterioration, contribute to aggressive struggles for political power that endanger the state. These governance failures have driven certain groups, notably primary groups, toward militancy as a mechanism to influence the allocation and implementation of state resources. Consequently, national security has been undermined. To improve security and governance, the adoption of functional, people-centred political leadership is suggested to strengthen democratic structures and counter militant activity.
Understanding the drivers of insecurity in emerging democracies helps policymakers recognise how socioeconomic hardships and leadership deficits impact stability. By showing how unemployment, poverty, and weak governance encourage militancy over resource distribution, the findings underscore the necessity of people-centred leadership and institutional reforms to preserve national cohesion and peace.
The abstract does not indicate an application pathway, as it focuses strictly on theoretical political analysis and policy recommendations.
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This paper discusses threats to national security in emerging democracies with specific focus on the democratic experiment of the Nigerian fourth republic. The paper through the use of system theory unfolds the hyphen and buckle between governance and national security. The paper argues that poor political governance as manifested in lack of people centred political leadership, poor institutionalisation of democratic governance, widespread unemployment, poverty, infrastructural decay among others have led to crude contestation of political power which threatens the survival of the Nigerian state. The conception of the paper is that poor governance or lack of people centred governance has propelled a scenario where the people especially the primary groups have resulted to militancy as a means of getting the attention of government as regard the allocation and effective implementation of state resources. This scenario no doubt has negatively impacted on the security of the Nigerian state. Thus, in order to enhance good governance and national security in the Nigerian fourth republic the paper recommended a functional political leadership that is people centred as a mechanism for deepening democracy and checking against militancy among others. Key Words : Democratic governance. Identity politics. Militancy. Political leadership. Poverty. System theory.
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